The team drew inspiration from the jet propulsion mechanism of real squid to help the robot swim by itself. It takes some water into its flexible body, where it also stores elastic energy.

One commonality among most members of the class is water jet propulsion. This is the aspect that intrigued the research team, but it’s not a simple process -- there are a lot of moving parts.

A research team in Shanghai says it has developed a new pump-jet propulsion system that can give submarines a higher thrust while reducing noisy vibrations by more than 90 per cent. Some modern ...