It's the latest in a line of biologically-inspired underwater robots developed within the naro (nautical robots) project at ETH Zurich (Swiss Federal Institute of Technology), which has previously developed robots based on tuna fish and sea turtles.

Stefan Bertschi, who leads a school outreach program to promote young talent and raise awareness of the university's programs, approached the naro team with the idea of an edutainment robot based on the tuna fish robot they had developed. Fast forward 4 months and the prototypes were swimming in a pool thanks to financial backing from the Swiss Academy of Engineering Technology and the naro team's expertise.

"Our goal is to teach students different skills in the areas of biology, mathematics, physics, and computer science," explains Cédric Siegenthaler, Project Leader of the naro (nautical robot) team at ETH Zurich. "They learn by playing and by combinations of scientific, technical, design, and artistic components. Depending on the age and level of the kids, naro-nanins can be configured with fins or fully open for kids that want to program the motion parameters themselves."