This is the second research project that I will be working on for Purdue Mars. The goal of the project is to develop a swarm of innovative passenger robots that will be transported by a larger mothership robot. The team currently consists of me and another PhD student where we will develop and manufacture the robots. This is a multi-university collaboration, and more details about the project can be found: Here
In order to achieve energy-efficient submarines, they needed a method to move. Underwater gliders overall seem like the best approach to efficiently moving underwater. However, we also want it to be able to become an underwater drifter. In order to achieve, I came up with the idea for folding wings/fins. Though to achieve the folding fins, I needed to get a little creative with the design. During the discussion, I was able to instantly come up with a design involving undersial joints as seen below.
With the hardest part of the design figured out, I began to create a semi-accurate model of the design. Here are videos of the results:
Currently, the CAD does not fully account for waterproofing methods/waterproof assembly, so that is the next step.
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