Design and implementation of a biomimetic robotic jellyfish based on multi-linkage mechanism

Inspired by the characteristics of high agility and stability of live jellyfish, a novel biomimetic robotic jellyfish based on multi-linkage mechanism is developed in this paper. The robotic jellyfish consists of a streamlined head, a cavity shell, four driving devices with bevel gears, four actuators based on multi-linkage mechanism, a regulating mechanism for adjusting barycenter and a skin. The four centrosymmetric actuators is used to imitate the locomotion of jellyfish, including the relaxation phase and the contraction phase. The mutually independent and coordinated control of the four actuators is able to achieve diversified movements such as swimming forward, pitching and yawing. As a new type of bio-inspired robots, the robotic jellyfish with high agility, stability and low noise, will serve as a platform for underwater reconnaissance and environmental monitoring.