Science AMA Series: We’re roboticists at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory who developed a soft robot fish that can swim in the ocean. Ask us anything!

Abstract

Hi! We're Robert Katzschmann and Joseph DelPreto, researchers at MIT’s Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) who work in the field of soft robotics. We just published a paper in Science Robotics on “SoFi” (pronounced Sophie), a soft robotic fish we created that can swim alongside real fish in the ocean. We’re hoping a platform like SoFi could enable nature filmmakers to better document marine life up-close, monitor ocean pollution, and someday even inspect underwater infrastructure like oil rigs and pipelines. We’ll be online today at 2pm EST to answer your questions. Feel free to ask us about SoFi, our other projects (including a soft gripper for robot hands, a dynamic soft manipulator arm, 3d printed soft robots, and robots corrected by brain signals), our academic backgrounds, and anything else you want to know about. Note: Access to full Science Robotics paper via our lab website, search for and click on link called "Paper: Official full text version formatted/edited by Science Robotics". Requisite disclaimer: we are by no means speaking for MIT or CSAIL in any official capacity!