Abstract: In order to be ready for studying the dynamical performance of robotic fish in the mode of cruising, turning and burst-and-coast, combining the experimental results from the prototype to verify the advantage of the driven mode, a new numerical algorithm is used to solve the hydrodynamics of robotic fish swimming motions. The locomotion of center of mass of the robotic fish is formed from the outer fluid in the inertia frame and the deformation of body in the body frame. A new control equation is deduced by using the discretization. Once the deformation function of the robotic fish is given under the specific body frame, the dynamic and kinetics variables of the robotic fish movement can be solved by decoupling the control equations of the body field and fluid filed. An example shows the rationality and effectiveness of the method.

Key words: Dynamics, Freely self-propelled, Numerical simulation, Robotic fish