MechE Colloquium: Optimum control strategies for maximum thrust production in underwater undulatory swimming
Event details
| Date | 06.05.2025 |
| Hour | 12:00 › 13:00 |
| Speaker | Prof. Médéric Argentina, Nice Institute of Physics, Côte d'Azur University |
| Location | Online |
| Category | Conferences - Seminars |
| Event Language | English |
Abstract: Fishes, cetaceans, and many other aquatic vertebrates undulate their bodies to propel themselves through water. Swimming requires an intricate interplay between sensing the environment, making decisions, controlling internal dynamics, and moving the body in interaction with the external medium. Within this sequence of actions initiating locomotion, biological and physical laws manifest complex and nonlinear effects, which does not prevent natural swimmers to demonstrate efficient movement. This raises two complementary questions: how to model this intricacy and how to abstract it for practical swimming. In the context of robotics, the second question is of paramount importance to build efficient artificial swimmers driven by digital signals and mechanics. In this study, we tackle these two questions by leveraging a biomimetic robotic swimmer as a platform for investigating optimal control strategies for thrust generation. Through a combination of machine learning techniques and intuitive models, we identify a control signal that maximizes thrust production. Optimum tail-beat frequency and amplitude result from the subtle interplay between the swimmer's internal dynamics and its interaction with the surrounding fluid. We then propose a practical implementation for autonomous robotic swimmers that requires no prior knowledge of systems or equations. Direct fluid-structure simulations confirms the effectiveness and reliability of the proposed approach. Hence, our findings bridge fluid dynamics, robotics, and biology, providing valuable insights into the physics of aquatic locomotion.
Biography: Médéric Argentina is a Professor of Physics at Université Côte d’Azur and Director of the Graduate School SPECTRUM, which brings together over 450 researchers across disciplines. His research lies at the intersection of fluid dynamics, nonlinear systems, and biomechanics, with a particular focus on the physics of undulatory swimming and bio-inspired locomotion. Trained in France and with postdoctoral experience at institutions such as Harvard and Cambridge, he has developed a distinctive interdisciplinary approach combining theory, numerical modeling, and experimental techniques.
Biography: Médéric Argentina is a Professor of Physics at Université Côte d’Azur and Director of the Graduate School SPECTRUM, which brings together over 450 researchers across disciplines. His research lies at the intersection of fluid dynamics, nonlinear systems, and biomechanics, with a particular focus on the physics of undulatory swimming and bio-inspired locomotion. Trained in France and with postdoctoral experience at institutions such as Harvard and Cambridge, he has developed a distinctive interdisciplinary approach combining theory, numerical modeling, and experimental techniques.
Practical information
- General public
- Free