A few years ago, the same team designed an aquatic robot inspired by a manta ray. It could swim impressively fast, but it had one major drawback: a lack of three-dimensional maneuverability. Moving forward is one thing, but moving up and down, changing direction, and rotating in place is a whole different challenge. Many underwater robots have that same limitation, so the researchers decided to tackle this problem.

For their latest invention, they took inspiration from the feather star. These marine creatures have multiple flexible, feather-like limbs that help them move in different directions. Watching them, their movements seem almost effortless, but reproducing those maneuvers in robots is very difficult. It would typically require complex control systems and additional actuators – robotic components that produce movement.

But the new robot can maneuver in three dimensions using a few elastic limbs and just two actuators. And that’s exactly what makes it innovative.