--- title: It’s a bird, it’s a plane … it’s a robo-puffin? | daily.dev description: Engineers at MIT and EPFL built a robot that can both swim and fly like birds such as gulls and puffins. The 'flapping-wing aerial-aquatic vehicle' weighs less... canonical: https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-a-bird-it-s-a-plane-it-s-a-robo-puffin--glro4pno0 twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:site: @dailydotdev og:type: website og:site_name: daily.dev og:title: It’s a bird, it’s a plane … it’s a robo-puffin? | daily.dev og:description: Engineers at MIT and EPFL built a robot that can both swim and fly like birds such as gulls and puffins. The 'flapping-wing aerial-aquatic vehicle' weighs less... og:url: https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-a-bird-it-s-a-plane-it-s-a-robo-puffin--glro4pno0 og:image: https://api.daily.dev/og/posts/GlRO4PnO0.png og:image:alt: It’s a bird, it’s a plane … it’s a robo-puffin? og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 630 og:locale: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # It’s a bird, it’s a plane … it’s a robo-puffin? **[MIT Technology Review](https://daily.dev/sources/technologyreview)** · 4 min read · 2 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Engineers at MIT and EPFL built a robot that can both swim and fly like birds such as gulls and puffins. The 'flapping-wing aerial-aquatic vehicle' weighs less than 300 grams and uses a central fuselage, two flexible wings, and a motorized steerable tail. A waterproof motor drives a crankshaft that flaps the wings, and a 70-degree tail pitch lets it leap from water into flight. Tests at a water tank and Lake Geneva found medium, flexible wings worked best, and the robot needed no feet to take off, unlike real diving birds. The team, led by Raphael Zufferey, hopes it could let researchers fly to ocean sites, dive to sample, and return data cheaply and frequently. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Questions this post answers ### How does the MIT robo-puffin transition from swimming to flying? A flapping-wing aerial-aquatic vehicle built by MIT and EPFL engineers uses flexible wings and a motorized tail to move between water and air. Medium-size flexible wings minimize flapping amplitude underwater while staying firm enough for flight, and a steep 70-degree tail pitch lets the robot leap from the water's surface into the air. _Anyone tracking robotics breakthroughs crossing into new domains can follow bio-inspired vehicle research like this on daily.dev._ ### How much does the MIT flapping-wing aerial-aquatic robot weigh? The flapping-wing aerial-aquatic vehicle (FAAV) built by MIT and EPFL weighs less than 300 grams, about half a pound. It has a central fuselage, two flexible wings coated with hydrophobic nanoparticles, and a steerable motorized tail, with a waterproof electric motor driving a crankshaft that flaps the wings. _Engineers comparing lightweight robotic designs can keep up with hardware specs like these on daily.dev._ ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [MIT engineers design an aerial microrobot that can fly as fast as a bumblebee](https://daily.dev/posts/mit-engineers-design-an-aerial-microrobot-that-can-fly-as-fast-as-a-bumblebee-vjjyeh4b8) · MIT News · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Powered by muscle cells, a paper-thin robot swims through watery maze](https://daily.dev/posts/powered-by-muscle-cells-a-paper-thin-robot-swims-through-watery-maze-jiylmlum6) · Robohub · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [Underwater Robot Mimics Fish With New Fin Design](https://daily.dev/posts/underwater-robot-mimics-fish-with-new-fin-design-hxf7bkwgc) · IEEE Spectrum · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#robotics](https://daily.dev/tags/robotics), [#mit](https://daily.dev/tags/mit) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-a-bird-it-s-a-plane-it-s-a-robo-puffin--glro4pno0) ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization","name":"daily.dev","url":"https://daily.dev","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://daily.dev/apple-touch-icon.png","width":180,"height":180},"sameAs":["https://twitter.com/dailydotdev","https://github.com/dailydotdev","https://www.linkedin.com/company/daily-dev-ltd"]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https://daily.dev/#website","url":"https://daily.dev","name":"daily.dev","publisher":{"@id":"https://daily.dev/#organization"},"potentialAction":{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https://daily.dev/search?q={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}}]} {"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"TechArticle","headline":"It’s a bird, it’s a plane … it’s a robo-puffin?","url":"https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-a-bird-it-s-a-plane-it-s-a-robo-puffin--glro4pno0","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://daily.dev/posts/it-s-a-bird-it-s-a-plane-it-s-a-robo-puffin--glro4pno0"},"datePublished":"2026-10-20T21:26:47.674Z","dateModified":"2026-10-20T22:06:20.450Z","description":"Engineers at MIT and EPFL built a robot that can both swim and fly like birds such as gulls and puffins. 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