Video courtesy of Mohammad Javed '11
Professors Alexander Smits (Princeton) and Hilary Bart-Smith (University of Virginia) decided to arrange a competition between their students to see who could design the best manta ray inspired robot. Mohammad Javed '11, a mechanical engineering major, took on the project as a senior thesis and represented Princeton.
His manta bot, which uses a single sheet of plastic and four thin steel cables in each fin, takes a test swim in the Woodrow Wilson School fountain in this video.