Stiff morphing composite beams inspired from fish fins.

Morphing materials are typically either very compliant to achieve large shape changes or very stiff but with small shape changes that require large actuation forces. Interestingly, fish fins overcome these limitations: fish fins do not contain muscles, yet they can change the shape of their fins with high precision and speed while producing large hydrodynamic forces without collapsing. Here, we present a 'stiff' morphing beam inspired from the individual rays in natural fish fins.