Principal Investigator Michael Triantafyllou
Project Website http://censam.mit.edu/research/Pages/Ultra%20fast%20escape%20of%20shape-changin…
A study of cephalopods, like the squid and the octopus, shows that they have developed an ultra-fast escape mechanism based on first inflating and then deflating their shape while using the expelled water as a propelling jet. The mechanisms that allow control of the drag forces and flow energy recovery can be used to propel a shape-changing vehicle to match the performance of cephalopods.