Kinematics Modeling and Simulation of a Bionic Fish Tail System Based on Linear Hypocycloid

Kinematics and simulation study on a two-joint linear hypocycloid tail driving system composed of a special planetary gear system and a linkage mechanism are conducted in this paper. First, the composition and working principle of the linear hypocycloid tail transmission system are introduced and analyzed. Second, the kinematics study on the transmission mechanism is conducted with graphical method of vector equation. The relationships between the caudal peduncle stroke, the tail fin swing angle, and the phase difference with structure parameters are studied, and further optimization of structure sizes (i.e., linkage length, sun gear's diameter, the intersection angle between planet gears, etc.) is developed. At last, simulation and comparative study on a biofish in sample parameters with a live fish of Carp is conducted in MATLAB. The study would serve for underwater vehicles thruster design and its mechanism.