Date of Award
Spring 2025
Document Type
Thesis
Terms of Use
© 2025 Adelle Robison. This work is freely available courtesy of the author. It may be used under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0) license. For all other uses, please contact the copyright holder
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.
Degree Name
Bachelor of Arts
Department
Engineering Department
First Advisor
E. Carr Everbach
Abstract
Barnacle nauplii swim in conditions described by a low Reynolds number of around 2 as a result of their small size. It is not fully understood how their method of swimming allows them to move around in an environment with such a low Reynolds number. Additionally, it is unknown to what degree their horns, tail, and the hair-like bristles on their appendages contribute to their motion and their survival. The robot prototype created for this project mimics the features and swimming method of nauplii in order to help study nauplius locomotion and the functions of their unique morphology. Additionally, this robot was created with the goal of helping to determine how well-suited a robot that mimics a nauplius is for navigating highly viscous environments, such as the oceans of Europa. A robot prototype was created that utilizes a motor and series of gears and sliders to move legs back and forth. The angles of legs of the robot were matched to the angles of those of an actual nauplius with reasonable accuracy. Viscosity tests were performed and showed that viscosity could be controlled to match the Reynolds number of the robot to that of a nauplius. Future work will need to be done to waterproof the system and test it in a viscous fluid.
Recommended Citation
Robison, Adelle , '25, "Nauplius Swimming Robot" (2025). Senior Theses, Projects, and Awards. 969.
https://works.swarthmore.edu/theses/969
