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Ships and Offshore Structures· 2026Q2

A wire-driven robotic shark with a non-uniform stiffness distribution fish tail

ou xie, Yifeng He, Chenbo Zhang, Jiping Luo

Short summary

A wire-driven robotic shark (WRS) with a flexible tail featuring non-uniform stiffness distribution achieved a maximum swimming speed of 0.53 BL/s and a maximum average turning speed of 24°/s.

AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.

Key points

  • A wire-driven robotic shark (WRS) was designed with a flexible tail featuring non-uniform stiffness distribution.
  • Fluid–Structure Interaction (FSI) simulations were used to analyze the effects of stiffness distribution, wire position, and swimming parameters on tail motion.
  • The optimized WRS achieved a maximum swimming speed of 0.53 Body Lengths per second (BL/s).
  • The optimized WRS achieved a maximum average turning speed of 24°/s.

AI-generated from the title and abstract; the full text is not read.

Abstract

Inspired by the muscle-driven mechanisms of natural fish, wire-driven robotic fish have emerged as a prominent research focus. This paper presents a wire-driven robotic shark (WRS) featuring a flexible tail with non-uniform stiffness distribution. To examine the effects of stiffness distribution, wire installation position, and swimming parameters on the tail's undulating motion, a series of numerical simulations were conducted using a Fluid–Structure Interaction (FSI) method. An experimental platform was subsequently developed to investigate forward swimming and turning performance. The results demonstrate that stiffness distribution, wire installation position, and swimming parameters significantly influence the undulating posture of the tail. The structurally optimized WRS achieved a maximum swimming speed of 0.53 BL/s and a maximum average turning speed of 24°/s.

The authors' abstract, as published at the source. Ships and Offshore Structures, 2026 · DOI ↗

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Field: Aerospace Engineering

Aerospace EngineeringEngineering