MIT‑EPFL amphibious flapping‑wing robot

Engineers from MIT (USA) and EPFL (Switzerland) have continued to develop the Flapping‑Wing Aerial‑Aquatic Vehicle (FAAV), a 250‑300 g bird‑scale robot that can swim, dive, launch from the water surface and then fly using flapping wings. The first public demo on 10 July showed the robot propelling itself at about 1 m s⁻¹ underwater, breaking the surface at a 70‑degree angle, and reaching roughly 6 m s⁻¹ in flight, with the water‑to‑air transition completing in under a second (eight to ten wingbeats).

Follow‑up testing reported on 13 July confirmed these performance figures in a laboratory tank and on Lake Geneva, and the team released open‑source CAD files estimating a build cost of around US$300. The design mimics diving birds such as gulls, puffins and gannets: flexible wings bend passively in water and flap up to 11 Hz in air, while the robot remains neutrally buoyant.

A later report on 25 July highlighted that the FAAV has no legs or propellers; instead, two flexible wings and a steerable tail are adjusted in size, flapping frequency and tail angle to enable dives, underwater propulsion, and resurfacing at the characteristic 70‑degree launch angle. Researchers stress that the platform could be deployed inexpensively from ships or coastal stations for oceanographic sampling, marine‑life monitoring, iceberg tracking, and inspection of offshore infrastructure. The robot remains non‑autonomous, but it demonstrates a new engineering approach to crossing the density gap between water and air and offers a physical model for studying the biomechanics of diving birds.