PSpHT a water strider-like robot for water inspection: Framework and control architecture

Abstract

This paper presents the framework and control of a proposed water strider-liked robot, named as Portable Striding pH Tester (PSpHT) that is able to measure the water quality. PSpHT is designed with its leg and tip configurations made respectively from the light-steel beam and polypropylene-based material. The design of the leg is calculated and fabricated using Archimedes' principle. In addition, real-time software for use in a remote controlled pH data logger that strides the robot, called PSpHT-VI, is developed using radio frequency (RF) communication. The PSpHT is verified and validated by running two specific tests, which are striding topology test and real-time data Potential Hydrogen (pH) reading test. The tests were conducted in a lake within the campus of the Universiti Malaysia Pahang, Pekan.

Experimental and theoretical studies on the dynamic landing of water striders on water

“…Copper wires are used to make the legs of the bionic strider since metal wires are widely employed in bionic robots for practical applications. 4–7 The diameter of the copper wires is d = 0.4 mm, which is slightly thicker than the real water strider legs ( i.e. , 0.14–0.18 mm) 3 and is sufficiently thin compared with the capillary length l c (2.73 mm for water).…”

“…2,3 Because of important applications such as monitoring and conservation of water quality, the development of bionic robots and vehicles moving on water becomes a promising topic of research. 4–7 In an ideal case, a water-walking robot should own the ability against the gravity to keep most of its body out of water in order to well execute specific functions. Meanwhile, it is important to exhibit an ability to recover a non-wetting state if its body partially or totally pierces the water surface.…”

Stroke Kinematics Analysis and Hydrodynamic Modeling of a Buoyancy-Supported Water Strider Robot

“…The water strider has many advantages such as highly efficient locomotion, a good stability, quiet movement, and little disturbance to the water surface [8,9]. Owing to the unique advantage the water strider has of walking on the water surface and the potential applications of bionic robots inspired by water striders in many areas such as water quality monitoring, aquatic search, and rescue [10], tremendous efforts have been devoted to the development of water strider robots in recent years [9][10][11][12][13][14][15][16][17][18][19][20].…”

“…However, due to the low water surface tension, the load capacity of such bionic robots is generally very limited, which in turn greatly restricts their application. Therefore, water strider robots with a much stronger load capacity (e.g., buoyancy-supported water strider robots) have also begun to be considered [17][18][19][20]. This type of the robots uses floats as the support legs and paddles as the stroke legs, which improve the load capacity and practicability of these robots.…”