Title

Design, development and testing of a punting unmanned underwater vehicle

Authors

Matthew D. Perkins, University of Rhode Island
Stephen C. Licht, University of Rhode Island

Document Type

Conference Proceeding

Date of Original Version

11-28-2016

Abstract

We detail the development of a novel propulsion system for unmanned underwater vehicles (UUV's) inspired by the punting locomotion of the 'Little Skate'. The hybrid legged, gliding and punting gait is a potential enabling technology for UUV access to complex littoral environments. Design, development and initial trials with the prototype vehicle are presented. A combination of video motion capture and on-board inertial sensing is validated and used for preliminary analysis of a limited set of punting gaits. The results indicate the importance of matching vehicle morphology and kinematics to achieve effective locomotion and that the prototype is viable to be used as a validation tool for a general punting dynamic model that is in development.

Publication Title, e.g., Journal

OCEANS 2016 MTS/IEEE Monterey, OCE 2016

Citation/Publisher Attribution

Perkins, Matthew D., and Stephen C. Licht. "Design, development and testing of a punting unmanned underwater vehicle." OCEANS 2016 MTS/IEEE Monterey, OCE 2016 (2016). doi: 10.1109/OCEANS.2016.7761287.