VIDEO: THE MANTA RAY ROBOT TAKES TO THE POOL, NEXT STOP THE OCEAN

Manta Rays swim through the water with a flying motion, allowing them to travel quickly with little effort, while also being agile. These are qualities that are desirable in an autonomous underwater vehicle or AUV. To that end, the scientists from the National University of Singapore recently developed a manta ray-inspired swimming robot, known as MantaDroid. 

Created over two years by a team led by associate professors Chew Chee Meng and Yeo Khoon Seng, the MantaDroid is modelled after a juvenile manta ray – it measures 35cm long by 63 cm wide and weight 0.7 kg. The robot can "fly" underwater at a speed of 0.7 km/s, that's twice its body length per second, for up to 10 hours on one charge of its batteries. 

"Unlike other flapping-based underwater robots that replicate manta rays' flapping kinematics by using multiple motors to achieve active actuations throughout the fins, MantaDroid is powered by only one electric motor on each fin," says Chew. "We then let the passive flexibility of the fins interact naturally with the fluid dynamics of the water to propel the subsequent motions."

Along with having a longer range than conventional propeller-powered AUV's, MantaDroid should also be more quiet, allowing less disruption to marine life when being used for research purposes. 

Plans now call for the robot to be tested in the open ocean, to see how it handles currents. In the meantime, you can see the swimming MantaDroid in the video below: