Principal Investigator Raphael Zufferey
Project Website https://aura.mit.edu/
Project Start Date September 2025
At the MIT AURA lab, we study bio-inspired methods and unconventional designs to solve seamless aerial and aquatic locomotion for applications in ocean sciences. Research focus includes:
(*) Aerial-Aquatic Bio-Inspired Robots: We develop new propulsion methods to enable both flight and underwater locomotion in robots, with a particular focus on transitions & bio-inspiration. We are currently solving challenging transition questions through experimental methods and are studying autonomy, simulation and integration aspects.
(*) Monitoring of Aquatic Environments: The ultimate objective of our robotic systems is to operate in our ocean and waterways without user intervention, and have a positive impact for oceanographers, biologists. To this end, we seek to understand how non-intrusive, small-scale systems can deliver high quality data in a cost-effective manner.