Design, Modeling and Experimental Validation of a Miniature Hybrid Underwater Glider With Large-Range Foldable Deflectable Wings

• URL: http://arxiv.org/abs/2607.13622v1
• Date: Wed, 15 Jul 2026 09:10:10 GMT
• Title: Design, Modeling and Experimental Validation of a Miniature Hybrid Underwater Glider With Large-Range Foldable Deflectable Wings
• Abstract summary: Miniature hybrid underwater gliders have attracted increasing attention for long-endurance ocean observation and confined-space inspection.<n>Large-range wing reconfiguration offers a promising yet largely unexplored approach for simultaneously enhancing maneuverability and shape adaptability.<n>This paper presents FoDeGlider, a miniature hybrid underwater glider equipped with two independently actuated wings capable of large-range folding and deflection.
• Score: 0.4779196219827507
• License: http://arxiv.org/licenses/nonexclusive-distrib/1.0/
• Abstract: Miniature hybrid underwater gliders have attracted increasing attention for long-endurance ocean observation and confined-space inspection. Large-range wing reconfiguration offers a promising yet largely unexplored approach for simultaneously enhancing maneuverability and shape adaptability in constrained underwater environments. However, such morphing introduces substantial challenges in mechanical integration, dynamic modeling, and hydrodynamic characterization. This paper presents FoDeGlider, a miniature hybrid underwater glider equipped with two independently actuated wings capable of large-range folding and deflection. To capture configuration-dependent variations in mass distribution, center-of-geometry location, and hydrodynamic loading, a multibody dynamics model is developed by treating wing configuration as a structural variable. A composite rigid body algorithm (CRBA)-based projection formulates the composite inertia, wrench transformations, and component-level hydrodynamics into a unified Fossen-form dynamic model applicable to arbitrary wing configurations. A sequential parameter-identification framework is further proposed to estimate fuselage and wing hydrodynamic coefficients, resulting in an open benchmark dataset for model identification and validation. Extensive experiments are conducted, the results of which demonstrate accurate dynamic modeling and parameter identification across diverse morphing configurations. Gate traversal experiments further validate FoDeGlider's ability to actively reconfigure its morphology during locomotion, enabling enhanced navigation in confined underwater environments.

Related papers

• TO-SoFiT: Topology Optimization of Hydraulic Soft Fish Tail Design for programmable undulating locomotion [2.3949993602447335]
  This work introduces a topology optimization method to automate the design of a hydraulic soft fish tail.<n>The employed robust multi-criteria optimization formulation balances deformation efficiency, fluid-structure interaction, geometric manufacturability, and required stiffness.<n>By cascading optimized tail segments, we demonstrate programmable swimming patterns in soft robotic fish tails at different hydraulic loads.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-06-14T07:22:00Z)
• Design and Aerodynamic Modeling of MetaMorpher: A Hybrid Rotary andFixed-Wing Morphing UAV [2.012425476229879]
  We present a generalized, comprehensive nonlinear mathematical model and conceptual design for the MetaMorpher.<n>This work introduces a simplified mechanical architecture using lightweight materials and a novel wing-folding strategy.<n>The results show that the model behaves predictably under different structural configurations, demonstrating its reliability as a tool for rapid design evaluation.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-03-31T12:09:16Z)
• DiffWind: Physics-Informed Differentiable Modeling of Wind-Driven Object Dynamics [97.57382055179725]
  We present DiffWind, a physics-informed-iable framework that unifies wind-object interaction, video-based modeling, and forward simulation.<n>Our method significantly outperforms prior dynamic scene modeling approaches in both reconstruction accuracy and simulation fidelity.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-03-10T13:41:24Z)
• Unified Structural-Hydrodynamic Modeling of Underwater Underactuated Mechanisms and Soft Robots [11.247998904088007]
  We propose a trajectory-driven global optimization framework for unified structural-hydrodynamic modeling of underwater multibody systems.<n>Inspired by the Covariance Matrix Adaptation Evolution Strategy (CMA-ES), the proposed approach simultaneously identifies coupled internal elastic, damping, and distributed hydrodynamic parameters.<n>This enables high-fidelity reproduction of both underactuated mechanisms and compliant soft robotic systems in underwater environments.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-03-09T04:06:43Z)
• Dual-Regime Hybrid Aerodynamic Modeling of Winged Blimps With Neural Mixing [22.07080402182441]
  Winged blimps operate across distinct aerodynamic regimes that cannot be adequately captured by a single model.<n>This paper presents a hybrid aerodynamic modeling framework that integrates a fixed-wing Aerodynamic Coupling Model (ACM) and a Generalized Drag Model (GDM)<n>The proposed approach is validated on the RGBlimp platform through a large-scale experimental campaign comprising 1,320 real-world flight trajectories.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-02-25T08:59:50Z)
• A 26-Gram Butterfly-Inspired Robot Achieving Autonomous Tailless Flight [61.21669716392821]
  textitAirPulse is a 26-gram butterfly-inspired robot that achieves the first onboard, closed-loop controlled flight for a tailless two-winged platform at this scale.<n>It replicates key biomechanical traits of butterfly flight, utilizing low-aspect-ratio, compliant carbon-fiber-reinforced wings and low-frequency flapping that reproduces characteristic biological body undulations.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2026-02-06T15:58:50Z)
• Fractional-order Modeling for Nonlinear Soft Actuators via Particle Swarm Optimization [49.34452620841728]
  This paper proposes an innovative modeling framework based on fractional-order differential equations (FODEs) to capture the dynamic behavior of soft materials.<n>The proposed approach effectively represents the complex deformation phenomena inherent in soft actuators.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-12-20T04:46:25Z)
• GeoAda: Efficiently Finetune Geometric Diffusion Models with Equivariant Adapters [61.51810815162003]
  We propose an SE(3)-equivariant adapter framework ( GeoAda) that enables flexible and parameter-efficient fine-tuning for controlled generative tasks.<n>GeoAda preserves the model's geometric consistency while mitigating overfitting and catastrophic forgetting.<n>We demonstrate the wide applicability of GeoAda across diverse geometric control types, including frame control, global control, subgraph control, and a broad range of application domains.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-07-02T18:44:03Z)
• AI-Enhanced Automatic Design of Efficient Underwater Gliders [60.45821679800442]
  Building an automated design framework is challenging due to the complexities of representing glider shapes and the high computational costs associated with modeling complex solid-fluid interactions.<n>We introduce an AI-enhanced automated computational framework designed to overcome these limitations by enabling the creation of underwater robots with non-trivial hull shapes.<n>Our approach involves an algorithm that co-optimizes both shape and control signals, utilizing a reduced-order geometry representation and a differentiable neural-network-based fluid surrogate model.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2025-04-30T23:55:44Z)
• Re-Dock: Towards Flexible and Realistic Molecular Docking with Diffusion Bridge [69.80471117520719]
  Re-Dock is a novel diffusion bridge generative model extended to geometric manifold. We propose energy-to-geometry mapping inspired by the Newton-Euler equation to co-model the binding energy and conformations. Experiments on designed benchmark datasets including apo-dock and cross-dock demonstrate our model's superior effectiveness and efficiency over current methods.
  arXiv  Detail & Related papers  (2024-02-18T05:04:50Z)

This list is automatically generated from the titles and abstracts of the papers in this site.

This site does not guarantee the quality of this site (including all information) and is not responsible for any consequences.