MIT·EPFL Develop 'Dollar-300 Robot Bird' That Dives Underwater and Takes Flight

A $300 robotic bird dives underwater and then takes to the air again. Like birds in nature, it plunges into the water in its flying posture to hunt prey before returning to the sky.

However, realizing this ability to traverse two different environments in a small machine has proven technically challenging.

This marks the first time a bird-sized robot has completed the cycle of entering the water and taking off using only flapping wings to move between air and water, without complex wing-folding mechanisms or propellers. The robot weighs 8.8 ounces, and the research was published in the journal Science.