RoboClam
By Chief Robot. Filed in Robot News, Science, Water |Tags: MIT
Anette Hosoi, an associate professor at MIT, has been working on developing a lightweight anchor. She also wanted the anchor to be easily set and unset.
To that end, Anette and graduate student Amos Winter began studying razor clams and how they bury themselves into the sand.
Razor clams can dig up to 70 cm deep and have a very strong anchoring force once buried.
After studying the clams, the MIT pair created the RoboClam. An anchor about the size of a lighter. The robotic anchor could be used to tether small robotic submarines that move frequently.
Link via (Scientific American)
