"Two years ago, we demonstrated an aquatic soft robot that was able to reach average speeds of 3.74 body lengths per second. We have improved on that design. Our new soft robot is more energy efficient and reaches a speed of 6.8 body lengths per second. In addition, the previous model could only swim on the surface of the water. Our new robot is capable of swimming up and down throughout the water column."
"Pumping air into the chamber introduces energy into the system. The fins want to return to their stable state, so releasing the air also releases the energy in the fins. That means we only need one actuator for the robot and allows for more rapid actuation."
"We observed the swimming motion of manta rays and were able to mimic that behavior in order to control whether the robot swims toward the surface, swims downward, or maintains its position in the water column."
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