Triton: Musculoskeletal Swimming Robot

Laboratory for Intelligent Systems and Informatics (ISI Lab), Department of Mechano-Informatics, Graduate School of Information Science and Technology, The University of Tokyo.
The dolphin kick is a swimming style characterized by undulation of the body. As a platform for swimming research, we have developed a musculoskeletal humanoid robot called Triton. Triton has a flexible spine with erector spinae muscles and a stiffness adjustment system for lumbar joints. The musculoskeletal body includes biarticular and polyarticular muscles, providing multi-joint coordination. The robot is actuated by pneumatic muscles, yielding lightweight and inherently waterproof properties. The compliance of the joints allows interactions between body and fluid similar to those of human swimming.
Yasuaki Ishii, Satoshi Nishikawa, Ryuma Niiyama, Yasuo Kuniyoshi, “Development of a Musculoskeletal Humanoid Robot as a Platform for Biomechanical Research on the Underwater Dolphin Kick,” In Proc. IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), pp.3285-3291, 2018.
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