Project descriptions
a novel jet-propelled robot which is able to swim underwater and perform leaps from water when it gets near the surface. We call this robot Flare Launching Autonomous Swimming Hydrobot or FLASH. The robot uses a special design electrolytic module to produce oxyhydrogen from the surrounding water. The gas mixture is then ignited by a high voltage spark which allows the robot to propel underwater. By controlling the amount of gas generated inside the robot body, the robot is able to dive into the water or perform aquatic takeoff.
Flare Launching Autonomous Swimming Hydrobot (FLASH)
PhD thesis published in University of Bristol, 2021.
Hybrid aerial-aquatic robots capable of traversing complex multiphase environments are essential to environmental exploration and rescue missions. One of the principal challenges in developing such vehicles is that the aquatic-arial transition is a power intensive process. This is particularly challenging at small scale due to the constraints of conventional actuation and the physics involved.
Many efforts have been made to address this challenge ranging from using compressed air to ignite combustible gas to generate large thrust which propels the robots out of water. However, all these devices suffer from short operating time and/or create waste which significantly hinders their practicality in real life environmental applications.
This paper introduces a new class of light driven, jet-propelled robots (FLASH) capable of consecutive aquatic-arial jumps and swimming for an extended period in the environment.
The power required for aquatic jump is obtained by electrolysing environmental water to produce combustible oxyhydrogen gas, allowing the robot to rapidly shoot out of water.
The robot could achieve a vertical jump height of 23 cm at 0.15 gas to water ratio. Here, the combustion process, jetting phase, vertical aquatic-arial jump and swimming performance have been characterised. This class of new light driven robots would enable a fast-targeted response to emergencies that could not be matched by current systems.