Researchers Unveil Five Foot Wide Robotic Jellyfish

Posted on March 28, 2013

Researchers at the Virginia Tech College of Engineering have unveiled a man-sized autonomous robotic jellyfish. The robotic jellyfish is five-foot and seven inches wide. It weighs 170 pounds. The robot, named Cyro, is modeled and named after the jellyfish Cyanea capillata. Cyro is a larger version of RoboJelly, which was unveiled in 2012. Both projects are headed by Shashank Priya, professor of mechanical engineering at Virginia Tech.

The projects are funded by U.S. Naval Undersea Warfare Center and the Office of Naval Research. The goal is to place self-powering, autonomous machines in waters for the purposes of surveillance and monitoring the environment. Large jellyfish robots could also be used to study ocean life, map ocean floors and monitor ocean currents.

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