Robot Turtle Naro-Tartaruga Reminds Us That Turtles Can Fly. Ok, Not Really!

Robotic fishes are popular among the roboticists for their agility, but at the the same time they fail at having a rigid body and can't carry a substantial payload. Now a group of mechanical engineers from ETH Zurich have undertaken a study project called Naro, under which they're developing the concept of fin propulsion further by developing a Sea Turtle's robotic counterpart. Now with a turtle, these engineers get to use more space for storing the essentials - the batteries and the sensors, owing to the bigger torso size. They are busy experimenting with the first direct measurements on energy consumption for a flapping fin mechanism in robotics. With Tartaruga, the waterproof aluminium body of the robotic turtle will have a fully 3D mechanism and it will accomodate three actuators for the three fins.

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Naro's Tartaruga looks like a huge bee in that image, agreed. But, it is soon taking it's leap in the sea later this month and will be seen navigating autonomously at a top speed of about 7 kph with a diving depth of 100 m. Using the sensors for pressure, temperature, GPS, water flow, compas etc. the robot will perform a variety of tasks, while the research modules for future study are taken care of by the symmetric mechanical interfaces at the head and tail of the turtle. We now look forward to the day when we see these robotic turtles fly and take the species a league forward.

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