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.

Qing Li is currently a Chair Professor at the Hong Kong Polytechnic University. He also serves/served as a Guest Professor of Zhejiang University, an Adjunct Professor of the University of Science and Technology of China, and a Visiting Professor at the Wuhan University and the Hunan University. His research interests include database modeling, multimedia retrieval and management, social media computing and e-learning systems. Dr. Li has published over 400 papers in technical journals and international conferences in these areas, and is actively involved in the research community by serving as a journal reviewer, program committee chair/co-chair, and as an organizer/co-organizer of numerous international conferences. Currently he is the Chairman of the Hong Kong Web Society, a councillor of the Database Society of Chinese Computer Federation (CCF), a member of the CCF Big Data Experts Committee, and a member of the international WISE Society's steering committee.