Robotic Tuna with Tunable Tail (IMAGE)

University of Virginia School of Engineering and Applied Science

Robotic Tuna with Tunable Tail

Caption

Fish are thought to adjust their tail stiffness in order to swim efficiently over a wide range of speeds, but how and when they tune the amount of stiffness has been a mystery. A model created by University of Virginia School of Engineering researchers that combines robotics, fluid dynamics and biomechanics has revealed the secret of stiffness tuning and allowed a fishlike robot to swim much more efficiently than a fish without a tunable tail.

Credit

Dan Quinn and Qiang Zhong

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