A soft robot fish just set a speed record — and it can dive, turn and spiral, too

Engineers in Shenyang, China, built a soft robot fish that copies how real fish pair muscle with skeleton — plus a swim-bladder-like system that shifts its buoyancy. It swims at 2.13 body lengths per second (about 26 cm/s (10 inches per second)), a record for its kind, and can cruise, turn in an S, rise, dive and spiral. Robots that move this naturally could one day monitor oceans and explore underwater places without disturbing them.