Dynamics Modeling and Maneuverability of a Biomimetic helical Swimmer robot at Low- Reynolds-Number

In this paper, we propose a new method inspired by themotility mechanism of prokaryotic microorganism in whichby improving the helical propulsion system by the anglebetween the helical tail and the body axis, enabling them toperform clockwise or counterclockwise turning maneuvers.For predicting the behavior of this swimmer robot at variousinclination angles, the swimmer’s hydrodynamic model isextracted and the effect of different inclination angles onmotion trajectories is investigated. Then, in order toverification of the hydrodynamic model, an experimentalprototype of a macro-size swimmer robot with specificinclination angles was fabricated. The comparison of thehydrodynamic model results with experimental dataindicates that by creating specific inclination anglesbetween the helical tail and the body axis, clockwise orcounterclockwise maneuvers can be initiated in theswimmer. In particular, the radius of curvature of thetrajectory is observed to change in the different inclinationangles.