Alec Pirone ’24
Civil and Environmental Engineering
Efficient Propulsion of Tunabot
Efficient swimmers such as tuna swim with the tail and the caudal (tail) fin having a specific phase difference. The goal of my internship was to design the inside of a tuna robot, called the Tunabot, so that the tail and the caudal fin have a desired phase difference, regardless of swimming speed and external factors such as water current. This would move us one step closer to creating an underwater vehicle with optimal efficiency, which is needed in the face of climate change. I spent most of the summer designing propulsion systems in the software Creo. Throughout the internship, I learned new computer-aided design skills and refined my research skills. This internship allowed me to explore fluid mechanics, which I hope to continue studying. I also am now leaning toward a career with an environmental focus, which can be done by optimizing the efficiency of existing technology, like I did with the Tunabot.
2021
Innovation and a New Energy Future
Smits Fluid Mechanics Lab, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Princeton University
Alexander Smits, Eugene Higgins Professor of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Emeritus; Liuyang Ding, Postdoctoral Research Associate, Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering