Development of a hydraulic artificial muscle for a deep-seafloor excavation robot with a peristaltic crawling mechanism

Abstract

In recent years, observations and explorations of the deep seafloor have been actively pursued. One goal of such explorations is to obtain the samples of seafloor mud and its inclusions. Mud that contains minerals and submarine microorganisms has great potential for studies in biology, geology, and marine science. To contribute to these efforts, we propose a robot using peristaltic crawling to excavate deep seafloor. The robot consists of three parts: excavation, propulsion, and extraction units. The propulsion actuator of the proposed robot must be able to function under water at high pressures. As the first stage in the development, we developed a subunit using an oil hydraulic artificial muscle intended for use in deep sea, and conducted a performance experiment under water pressure. Our results confirmed that the artificial muscle can be used in water pressures of up to 5 MPa.