Fish-inspired soft robot survives a trip to the deepest part of the ocean

The deepest regions of the oceans still remain one of the least explored areas on Earth, despite their considerable scientific interest and the richness of lifeforms inhabiting them. Two reasons for this are the low temperatures and enormous pressures exerted at such depths, which require the exploration equipment be carefully shielded inside high-strength metal or ceramic chambers to withstand them. This makes deep-sea exploration vessels bulky, expensive and unwieldy, as well as difficult to design, manufacture and transport. But a new small self-powered underwater robotic fish appears to offer an alternative. According to a recent paper, the robot was able to reach the deepest part of the Pacific Ocean – the Mariana Trench – at a depth of almost 11 km (6.8 miles).