Bio-inspired Flow Sensing and Control for Autonomous Underwater Vehicles (ONR/UMD)

Sponsor: Office of Naval Research (through University of Maryland)

In collaboration with Profs. Derek Paley, Sean Humbert from Univ. of Maryland and Sheryl Coombs from Bowling Green State University, this project is centered around advancing the understanding of the lateral line sensory mechanism of fish and exploiting the insight to engineer artificial lateral lines for the control of underwater vehicles. The role of our group is to develop electroactive polymer-based micro flow sensors, characterize their performance in a flow channel, and facilitate the integration of these sensors into a robotic platform.