Meeting Abstract
Aurelia aurita is an oblate species of jellyfish composed of a flexible bell and subumbrellar coronal muscle that contracts to provide motive force. Because A. aurita is a simple and energy-efficient model organism capable of surviving in a broad range of environments, the external control of its locomotion can potentially enable more efficient aquatic vehicles for ocean monitoring. However, traditional robotics requires more complicated manufacturing and is constrained by power consumption; by implementing a portable swim controller on a biological system, we can simplify the robotic design and take advantage of a naturally existing scaffold and neuromuscular system. We achieve external control of swimming by using a compact wireless system of microelectronics and 3D-printed housing attached to the bell, with electrodes inserted into the bell margin for direct muscle stimulation. To validate this system, we obtain the bell kinematics using accelerometer data in conjunction with 3D particle tracking velocimetry by injecting biocompatible elastomer tags along the bell margin, illuminating the setup with ultraviolet light, and tracking particles using multiple camera views. Future work will connect these controls and kinematics to existing flow measurements to understand animal-fluid interactions.
