MIT's Robot Puffin Takes Flight... and Then Goes Fishing

A story of inventing and innovation inspired by nature:

Engineers at MIT and EPFL have built a flapping-wing machine that flies through the air, dives underwater, swims, and then launches itself back into the sky—just like a puffin.

The robot, called the Flapping-wing Aerial-Aquatic Vehicle (FAAV), weighs less than 300 grams and uses the same flexible wings for both flying and swimming. That's a remarkable engineering feat because water is roughly 1,000 times denser than air. Instead of switching to propellers or carrying separate propulsion systems, the robot simply changes how it flaps its wings.

Why build such a thing?

Researchers envision fleets of these robots helping oceanographers, marine biologists, and coastal communities. They could fly to remote shorelines, icebergs, ports, or whale habitats, dive to collect water samples or environmental data, then return through the air—much faster and more cheaply than conventional research vessels.

The inspiration came from diving birds such as puffins, loons, and petrels. MIT researchers analyzed data from nearly 100 species before settling on a design that mimics nature rather than fighting it.

Today's prototype can fly only a few miles on a battery, but MIT's Raphael Zufferey pointed out that real puffins routinely accomplish something far more impressive. Some puffins are known to migrate extraordinary distances—on the order of Alaska to New Zealand in a single non-stop journey. In other words, evolution still has a comfortable lead over robotics.

The work is a reminder that some of nature's best engineering ideas have been hiding in plain sight all along.

This post is based on reporting by K.R. Callaway in The New York Times, along with information released by MIT News.

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