Drone morphologies
Reversible Body Caudal Fin, marine mammal orientation (can also be in fish orientation), diver propulsion vehicle
Non-Reversible Body Caudal Fin, fish orientation, tugboat. Can be very large, e.g. +100', powered by commodity containerized diesel generators on barge that is being towed.
In the "ball motor" research craft, below, the same motor, battery pack, and fins will be used in BOTH Body Caudal Fin ("BCF") and "Medial Paired Fin" ("MPF") orientations. This will provide an interesting comparison of these different modes. In all other robotic fish, BCF and MPF are completely different.
Body Caudal Fin, reversible
Medial Paired Fin, reversible
Body Caudal Fin, not reversible, marine mammal orientation,
Medial Paired Fin
Video showing battery pack, counter-oscillation of battery pack and body, fins articulate
Flagellum, motor has no driveshaft, batteries and stator magnets in low friction blind ball-and-socket, magnets arranged in icosahedron, generates spiral tail motion, capable of going in any direction, with no steering actuator, other than TRE.
ENVIRONMENT: PIPES, SEAFLOOR, OPEN OCEAN, SURF, MANEUVERABLE
Eel
Two-Headed Polliwog phase array, tangent vector TREs, preferred direction, can rotate about center, no steering actor other than TREs.
ENVIRONMENT: SEAFLOOR, OPEN OCEAN, SURF; MANEUVERABLE
Four-Headed Polliwog phase array, symmetrical drive, tangent vector TREs, no steering actuator other than TREs, no preferred direction, full rotation about center
ENVIRONMENT: ROCKY SEAFLOOR; HIGHLY MANEUVERABLE
Two-Headed Polliwog phase array, perpendicular vector TREs
Four-Headed Polliwog phase array, perpendicular vector TREs
Four-Headed Polliwog phase array, tangent vector TREs