• Journal of the Korean Society of Manufacturing Technology Engineers
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• v.25 no.2
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• pp.132-137
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• 2016

Biomimetics involves the design of robotic platforms inspired from living creatures to achieve efficient operation under environmental conditions. A development within biomimetics involves investigating the function of a tail and applying it to robot design. This study aims to define the function of a static tail for water-running robots, and optimize its geometric and compliance parameters. The rolling angle of the tail is determined by the objective function, while the area and fillet ratio are used for geometric design and compliance parameters in the rolling and yawing directions. Repeated motion of the water-running robot's footpads at frequencies of 9 and 10 Hz is used as the operating condition. Robust design based on the Taguchi methodology is performed via orthogonal arrays. The optimized tail design derived in this study will be implemented in a robotic platform to improve steering and balancing functions in the pitching direction.