Way back in 1994, engineers at MIT unveiled Robotuna. Inspired by the 160 million-year-old species, the aptly named, four-foot-long submersible robot required over 2,800 components, including 40 ribs, tendons, a vertebrae-like backbone, and even a Lycra covering to mimic the fish’s skin. Now, nearly two decades later, yet another MIT research team (including one Robotuna veteran) have unveiled their new underwater successor to the breakthrough fishbot—a modular creation composed of simplified, repeating structures instead of individualized pieces that can resemble everything from an eel to a hydrofoil wing.
Their findings, published recently in the journal Soft Robotics, showcase MIT’s new advances in developing deformable, dynamically changing underwater robotic structures. This ability is key for submersible robots, since it allows them to move through water much more efficiently, as countless varieties of fish do in rivers, lakes, and the open ocean.
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