Swimming Machines
Why swim?
I want to swim because engineers have known since the 1980's that fish and marine mammals are more efficient than propellers, see here.
BUT PARTS ARE BAD! Traditional robotic fish have vertebrae, multiple connecting rods, wires, motors, joints, hydraulic pumps, etc., etc. Parts, parts, parts! It doesn't matter what they are, they are all BAD!
Traditional robotic fish have too many parts and are NOT even as efficient as propellers, let alone as efficient as real fish.
Here is a paper by the Naval Research Laboratory on this topic, nicknamed, "Prop vs. Fin".
How to swim efficiently?
Reduce the drive-train to a minimum:
A "Torque Reaction Engine" or TRE
Is a TRE efficient? Yes!
What types of Phish can be made with a TRE?
Fabrication techniques
3D modeling
great way to create cores for fiberglass molds
3D printing
History
As described here, my history with this project started with a stroke and human-powered research platforms. Rently:
What for?
Surveying subsea cables and pipelines
Mapping seafloor, habitat
Measuring temperature, salinity, and pH
Inspection of interior of pipes
Studying fish and marine mammals
KICKSTARTER FOR THE FISHBOOT!!!
Help me qualify a refined version of the fishBOOT for the seventy48 race in 2023 (70 miles in forty-eight hours, all human-powered, no motor or sales, between Tacoma and Port Townsend, WA)