velox, a creepy wiggly robot that can move on land and water

as if we hadn’t seen enough interesting and sometimes scary robots this year, US-based pliant energy has released videos of velox — a creepy wiggly robot that can move on land and water. to do so, velox uses just one pair of fins that allow it to move in different ways inspired in the animal kingdom. the fins have been described as ‘four dimensional objects with a hyperbolic geometry that allows the robot to swim like a ray, crawl like a millipede, jet like a squid, and slide like a snake.’

all images by pliant energy
gifs © designboom

by equipping velox with this system, pliant energy gives the robot an unprecedented freedom to travel through a range of environments in a single mission. as an underwater vehicle, the robot’s ability to instantly reverse direction and do quick turns makes it ideal for tasks such as coral reef inspection or dragon fish hunting where it has to move quickly to look around and between objects.

overall, pliant energy’s velox robot is a skilful swimmer than can leave the water and travel across sand, pebbles, paving, grass and even ice. the different applications include amphibious beach missions, polar ice missions, ice rescues, and personal propulsion for professional divers among others.