A Robotic Platform to Study the Foreflipper of the California Sea Lion

The overall goal of this procedure is to create a robotic platform to study Sea Lion swimming. This matter can help answer key questions in biofluid dynamics, such as how Sea Lions move the water around them when they swim. The main advantage of this technique is that we can explore Sea Lion locomotion in detail while still being in a controlled laboratory setting.

Though this method can provide insight into Sea Lion swimming, it can also be applied to other animal systems, such as dolphins, tuna, whales, and other fish or aquatic mammals. To begin, digitize a specimen of a Sea Lion foreflipper, or obtain it from an alternate source. Print the resulting point cloud at 68 percent of the full size, and use it to create a three-dimensional mold.