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Discovery
Swimming Robot Tests Theories About Locomotion in Existing and Extinct Animals
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Madeleine, a biologically inspired underwater robot, is helping scientists and engineers better understand the most energy-efficient way to use flippers for locomotion.
Credit: John Long, Vassar College |
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Scientists believe that unlike modern four-flippered animals, ancient aquatic reptiles, called plesiosaurs, used all of their appendages for swimming. Madeleine is helping discover why the change to modern two-flippered swimming occurred. This plesiosaur representation was modeled after a skeletal fossil at the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Credit: Researched, modeled and composited by Frank DeNota. |
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Undergraduate researchers use the diving facility at Vassar College to test Madeleine's performance.
Credit: John Long, Vassar College |
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Madeleine's swim skin comes off after a dip. The oscillation of each flipper can be controlled independently to test the impact of different gaits on her motion.
Credit: John Long, Vassar College |
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Waterproof black bottles under Madeleine's swim skin house her computer, motor and batteries.
Credit: John Long, Vassar College |
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