Projects

Modboats

Modboats

Conventionally, boats need at least two motors to navigate on the surface, and most have many more. For boats that self-assemble or move in teams, holonomic motion and complicated latching mechanisms become necessary, which makes them expensive. In this project we aim to break all of those assumptions by developing a low-cost modular, self-reconfigurable robotic swimmer powered by only one motor. By using passive flippers, the properties of fluids, and intelligent control laws, we can achieve maneuverability comparable to (or exceeding) that of much more expensive robots. We can dock, undock, and reconfigure – all without extra actuation.

Gedaliah Knizhnik

PhD, MEAM '22, Staff Robotic Software Engineer at RRAI


Modboats