OctoBot
Octopus-inspired compliant-body aquatic robot

Inspired by the morphology and outstanding locomotor capabilities of the octopus, the team of Dr. D. P. Tsakiris has developed an 8-arm robotic swimmer, fabricated primarily from compliant materials. Underwater experiments demonstrate several novel modes of underwater propulsion by combining various patterns of sculling movements of the arms and the web, an elastic membrane connecting the arms. Moreover, they highlight the efficiency of the swimmer, in terms of the attained velocities, the generated propulsive forces and the cost of transport.

Octopus robotic swimmer, an 8-arm compliant robot,
able to propel itself underwater by movements of its arms