NPR

WATCH: Robotic Fish Moves Like The Real Thing — So It Can Observe The Real Thing

MIT researchers unveiled a Soft Robotic Fish prototype in hopes of boosting aquatic observation. It can wiggle like a fish, dive to 18 meters, work autonomously — and hopefully avoid getting eaten.
SoFi, the robotic fish, swims in for its close-up. MIT computer scientists hope SoFi will help marine biologists get a closer (and less obtrusive) look at their subjects than ever before.

Scientific advancement: It's all in the wiggle.

OK, it's a lot more complicated than that. But when a team of researchers at MIT unveiled their robotic fish Wednesday, one of the keys they emphasized was the graceful undulation of the prototype's tail — which, besides being rather eye-catching, serves a crucial role in the robot's ultimate mission: giving scientists the ability to unobtrusively observe marine wildlife remotely.

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