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New flapping robot swims and flies like a diving bird
New flapping robot swims and flies like a diving bird
MIT engineers’ design could lead to a new class of aerial-aquatic vehicles for ocean exploration.
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Jennifer Chu<br>MIT News
Publication Date:
July 9, 2026
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Caption:
The aerial-aquatic robot can swim underwater, then flap out of the water to continue flying through air, much like diving birds.
Credits:
Credit: Raphael Zufferey
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Caption:
Raphael Zufferey, left, and Moritz Hüsser work on their robot design.
Credits:
Credit: John Freidah
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Caption:
The aerial-aquatic robot can swim underwater, then flap out of the water to continue flying through air, much like diving birds.
Credits:
Credit: Raphael Zufferey
Caption:
Raphael Zufferey, left, and Moritz Hüsser work on their robot design.
Credits:
Credit: John Freidah
Previous image<br>Next image
Loons, gulls, puffins, and petrels are some of the 100 species of birds that can both fly and swim. These diving birds can plunge in water to swim after prey, and leap back into the air to fly away.<br>Inspired by these naturally aquatic aviators, engineers at MIT and EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, have designed a robot that can swim underwater, then flap out of the water to continue flying through air, much like diving birds.<br>The “flapping-wing aerial-aquatic vehicle,” or FAAV, weighs less than 300 grams (about half a pound) and is designed to help scientists study the mechanics that enable diving birds to fly through air and water.<br>The robot has a central body, or fuselage; two flexible, flapping wings; and a steerable tail. The wings and tail can be swapped out for different sizes. In experiments carried out in a water tank and at a local lake, the engineers identified combinations of wing size, flapping frequency, and tail angle that enable the robot to smoothly transition from swimming through water to breaking through the surface to flying through the air.
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Their results, which appear today in the journal Science, could help scientists understand how diving birds adapt their flight mechanics to move through air and water — mediums with very different physical properties. The design could also launch a new class of aerial-aquatic drones and vehicles. The researchers envision such winged robots could be deployed in oceanography to fly to and sample from aquatic regions that would otherwise be too dangerous for traditional ocean vessels to access.<br>“Our dream vision is for oceanographers, marine biologists, and members of coastal communities to launch this robot from a boat, or from shore, and it would fly close to the area of interest, such as an iceberg or a port facility, or over a pod of whales,” says Raphael Zufferey, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at MIT. “It would dive into the water to take a measurement or collect a sample, and fly back to deliver the data at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods. Then it could go back out to dive for more.”<br>Zufferey is the lead author of the new study, which includes co-authors from EPFL and Northwest Indian College in Bellingham, Washington.<br>Flight mechanics<br>At MIT, Zufferey heads up the AURA Lab, where he and his students engineer aerial and aquatic vehicles inspired by biomechanics in nature. The robots they build are small in size...