Energy-efficient tunable-stiffness soft robots using second moment of area actuation
L. Micklem,G.D. Weymouth,B. Thornton,L. Micklem,G.D. Weymouth,B. Thornton
The optimal stiffness for soft swimming robots depends on swimming speed, which means no single stiffness can maximise efficiency in all swimming conditions. Tunable-stiffness would produce an increased range of high-efficiency swimming speeds for robots with flexible propulsors and enable soft control surfaces for steering underwater vehicles. We propose and demonstrate a method for tunable soft ...