Design of a mechanism to increase lateral force resistance of an autonomous ship hull cleaning robot

Author(s)
Morgan, Harith.
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Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering.
Advisor
Douglas Hart.
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Abstract
Marine biofoul accrues on ship hulls and increases the resistance of a ship during voyage. This is a widespread issue within the shipping an industry -- which supports the vast majority of global trade. To address this problem, we are developing Bio-Inspired HullCrawler -- an autonomous robot capable of cleaning ship hulls while a ship is underway. The novelty of our design centers on the bio-inspired suction cups that are cast as composite silicon elastomer. The purpose of this thesis is to look specifically at the lateral force resistance of elastomeric suction cup mechanisms. Here we propose new design concepts for the attachment system to improve on the drag force resistance of the HullCrawler device.
Description
Thesis: S.B., Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Department of Mechanical Engineering, May, 2020
 
Cataloged from the official PDF of thesis.
 
Includes bibliographical references (page 27).
 
Date issued
2020
URI
https://hdl.handle.net/1721.1/127897
Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Mechanical Engineering
Publisher
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Keywords
Mechanical Engineering.
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