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A new kind of robot swims the seas and soars the skies
NPR • • science
Key Points:
- Mechanical engineer Raphael Zufferey and his MIT team developed a bird-sized aerial-aquatic robot inspired by diving seabirds like the Atlantic puffin, capable of flying and swimming through air and water.
- The robot weighs about half a pound, has a wingspan of nearly three feet, and features flexible wings without legs or foldable joints, allowing it to transition efficiently between air and water.
- Waterproofing each electronic component enables the robot to be neutrally buoyant, maintaining position in water while also being light enough for flight, flapping wings up to ten times per second to launch from water to air.
- The robot demonstrated impressive performance, flying nearly four miles or swimming over a mile on a single charge, surpassing many natural diving birds in its ability to transition between mediums.
- Potential applications include environmental monitoring of coastal oceans, coral reefs, algal blooms, and marine life, with ongoing improvements aimed at enhancing sensors and robot capabilities inspired by biological models.
