Designing Fish-like Robot Swarms for Environmental Monitoring: Strain Gauge Enabled Perception in Underwater Robotics

Abstract

As the global temperature rises, the ocean continues to absorb most of the heat, which in turn causes ocean patterns to change [1]. The island of Puerto Rico has long felt the impacts of climate change, while a large part of the population has been affected by an increase in tropical cyclone activity and rising sea levels [2]. As a result of the rising temperatures, ocean acidification has increased by around 25 percent in the past three centuries and might increase to 40-50 percent by 2100 [3]. Recent research has employed marine robotic vehicles as tools for monitoring ocean resources and ecosystems. However, most existing vehicles are costly to both develop and manufacture, which restricts their use and can further decelerate efforts of research. This makes it challenging to use them to navigate and collect important samples in areas with obstacles, such as the coral reef. To tackle this, we propose to develop a pressure-sensing system that can enable the robotic fish, BlueGuppy swarm, to collect hydrodynamic flow data in real-time for optimized swimming efficiency, and additionally to improve environmental monitoring technologies.