Thrust force characterization of free-swimming soft robotic jellyfish.

Five unique soft robotic jellyfish were manufactured with eight pneumatic network tentacle actuators extending radially from their centers. These jellyfish robots were able to freely swim untethered in the ocean, to steer from side to side, and to swim through orifices more narrow than the nominal diameter of the jellyfish. Each of the five jellyfish robots were manufactured with a different composition of body and tentacle actuator Shore hardness. A three-factor study was performed with these five jellyfish robots to determine the impact that actuator material Shore hardness, actuation frequency, and tentacle stroke actuation amplitude had upon the measured thrust force. It was found that all three of these factors significantly impacted mean thrust force generation, which peaked with a half-stroke actuation amplitude at a frequency of 0.8 Hz.