This Manta ray robot is the world's fastest soft-bodied swimmer

A new aquatic robot inspired by Manta rays has broken the world record for the fastest swimming soft robot. The robot, designed by a team of engineers from North Carolina State University and the University of Virginia, was able to reach speeds of 6.8 body lengths per second. That comes out to a swim speed of 156.4 mm per second or about 0.35 mph. That time blows past the previous record of 3.74 body lengths per second record previously set by the same researchers. Researchers behind the machine, who published their findings today in Science Advances, told Popular Science the new design could be useful for future deep-sea exploration efforts.