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Underwater vehicle aims to mimic stingrays
Monday July 30, 2012 09:14:36 AM,
IANS
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Washington: Engineers
are trying to emulate the effortless but powerful swimming motions
of stingrays and mantarays by creating their own ray-like machine
modelled on nature.
"They (rays) are wonderful examples of optimal engineering by
nature," said Hilary Bart-Smith, associate professor of mechanical
and aerospace engineering in the University of Virginia's School
of Engineering and Applied Science.
Bart-Smith and her colleagues at three other universities are
designing an "autonomous underwater vehicle" that someday may
surpass what nature has provided as a model. The vehicle has
potential commercial and military applications, and could be used
for undersea exploration and scientific research.
They say stingrays and manta rays are fast, maneuverable,
energy-efficient, can cruise bird-like for long distances in the
deep ocean and rest on the sea bottom.
Sometimes called "bio-mimicry" -- the attempt to copy nature --
Bart-Smith calls her work "bio-inspired," according to a Virginia
statement.
"We are studying a creature to understand how it is able to swim
so beautifully, and we are hoping to improve upon it," she said.
"We are learning from nature, but we also are innovating; trying
to move beyond emulation."
Bart-Smith's team, which includes researchers at Virginia,
Princeton University, the University of California-Los Angeles and
West Chester University, are modelling their mechanical ray on the
cow-nosed ray and common to the western Atlantic and Chesapeake
Bay.
"Biology has solved the problem of locomotion with these animals.
So we have to understand the mechanisms if we are going to not
only copy how the animal swims, but possibly even to improve upon
it," Bart-Smith said.
Her team is trying to achieve optimal silent propulsion with a
minimum input of energy.
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