Chinese 'soft' deep sea robot makes debut

HANGZHOU－Scientists from Zhejiang province have developed a bionic "soft" robot in a bid to make deep-water exploration easier and more environmentally friendly.

The research, done by a Zhejiang University team and Chinese research institute Zhejiang Lab, was published in the journal, Nature, recently. The fishlike robot can endure the deep sea's high pressure with its electronic components decentralized in a gel-like body, a design inspired by snailfish.

"Compared with traditional deep-sea equipment with 'armor', the soft robot is lightweight and simple in structure, which can greatly reduce the difficulty and cost of deep-sea exploration," says Li Tiefeng with the Zhejiang University team.

Moreover, motivated by "artificial muscle" rather than electric servos or motors, the robot emits no noise and does little harm to marine creatures as it uses its fins to "swim", he says.

The team actuated the robot in a field test in the Mariana Trench at a depth of 10,900 meters in 2019, while it completed free swimming at a depth of 3,224 meters last year in the South China Sea. Researchers plan to apply key technologies of the bionic soft robot to deep submersibles and develop miniaturized deep-sea equipment with various functions.

Xinhua