SeaViper: An Efficient Thin 2D Surface-Swimming Soft Robot

Abstract

This paper introduces SeaViper, a soft extendable aquatic vibrating intelligent piezoelectric robot that extends previously developed land-based systems into the aquatic domain. The aquatic domain introduces new fundamental mechanisms of motion as well as new robot-platform requirements. To study these, we present the mechanical and electrical design of SeaViper and investigate the drive–frequency response of three prototype configurations, with energy efficiency as a key design consideration. The prototypes achieve a peak velocity of up to 33.2 cm/s (1.38 body-length per second) with an estimated power of 2 W and a minimum cost of transport (CoT) of 3.9, significantly improving upon the performance of the prior land prototype. Measured thrust data combined with current-sense analysis enable estimation of useful mechanical output and end-to-end electromechanical efficiency. Velocity and CoT are benchmarked against both other robotic swimmers and aquatic animals, highlighting the general gap to biological performance. To further advance the sheet-like, untethered design, the aquatic prototype integrates a microcontroller, wireless communication, sensing, and on-board battery charging circuitry, paving the way for future bio-inspired morphologies at the air–water interface with advanced driving patterns.