Science & Tech · Science & Environment · 2 hrs ago
Feather star-inspired robot swims in several directions using two air channels
Researchers at North Carolina State University made a small swimming robot inspired by feather stars, sea animals that move by flapping their arms.
The robot has four flexible arms and a soft body about 2.2 inches across.
Two air channels control its movements, instead of using a separate motor for each move.
Inflating both channels makes it climb, while slower pulses let it hover; using one channel moves it across the tank, and alternating the channels makes it spin.
It can rise at about 3.5 inches per second and spin at up to 90 degrees per second.
The design aims to give swimming robots more ways to move with fewer control parts.
So far, it has been tested only in lab tanks, and it still gets air through a tube.
A small soft robot inspired by feather stars can rise, hover, swim forward and spin using two air channels.
The robot has four flexible arms that change shape as air is pumped into or released from its body.
In tank tests, it rose at up to 3.5 inches (9 centimeters) per second and spun at up to about 90 degrees per second.
The work was led by Jie Yin of NC State, with first author Haitao Qing, now a postdoctoral researcher at UC Berkeley.
The robot has only been tested in tanks and still receives air through a tube.
- Who
- A research team led by Jie Yin at NC State; Haitao Qing was the first author.
- What
- The team developed a feather star-inspired soft robot that moves in several directions using two air channels.
- When
- The article was published on 2026-10-13. The research date is not stated.
- Where
- The robot has been tested in laboratory tanks. The research was led at NC State.
- Why
- The design aimed to give a swimming robot three-dimensional maneuverability without adding more parts.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
The team’s manta ray-shaped robot swam fast but could not maneuver in three dimensions.
The team trimmed the robot’s arms and heat-treated its central frame so each had one resting shape.
The robot demonstrated climbing, hovering, swimming across the tank and spinning.
- Air channels
- 2
- Flexible arms
- 4, made of thin plastic ribbon
- Body width
- About 2.2 inches (5.5 centimeters)
- Weight
- About half an ounce (14.5 grams)
- Maximum rising speed
- About 3.5 inches (9 centimeters) per second
- Maximum spin rate
- About 90 degrees per second
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What people are saying
We were inspired by feather stars because they are able to move in any direction or hover in place by coordinating the movement of their limbs
Normally, you would need at least six actuators to accomplish this
What surprised us most was that reducing the number of control inputs did not reduce the richness of the robot’s behavior