Swimming Humanoid

OK, here’s one I’ve never seen before — a humanoid robot attempting to swim.

Researchers at Tokyo Institute of Technology built SWUMANOID, a half-sized humanoid swimmer, to better understand water resistance and propulsion.  Unlike a human swimmer, the robot can execute exactly the same motions over and over, allowing the researchers to control all the independent variables and focus on whatever question they want to answer.

This was a very purpose-built robot, but it does make you wonder whether swimming might someday be one of the events that general-purpose Robo-One style robots take on.  They would require a lot of waterproofing first, not to mention some integrated floatation (some sort of foam, I would imagine).

See the full post at PlasticPals for more details on the new SWUMANOID robot.