Swimming animals display exceptional ability to move efficiently in aquatic environments and display a rich diversity of mechanisms for generating and controlling propulsive force. The swimming profile and performance of aquatic animals has been of interest to engineers, biologist, and roboticists alike. Among the different swimming modes, undulatory swimming is common across various animals such as fish and eels. In this swimming mode, traveling or stationary waves are generated over the body and the control of which results in the generation of propulsive force. What is the relationship between the waveforms and the fluid mechanic forces? We sought to answer this question by combining experiments on biological swimmers and computational fluid dynamics simulations. We found that various swimming gaits can be generated through modulation of simple parameterized model. A bio-inspired robotic model was developed to demonstrate and test the locomotion dynamics of the various gaits. The findings from this study pave the way for highly maneuverable swimming robots that exploit the interplay between body waves and fluid forces.
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