HOUGHTON – It’s a fish! It’s a bird! No…it’s a robot. Inspired by nature, mechanical engineer Nina Mahmoudian is getting underwater robots to move together.

Not only could they travel more easily, but battery charging could be more efficient, too. Charging a robot is the biggest obstacle to underwater missions. That’s why Mahmoudian, an assistant professor of mechanical engineering, has grants from both a National Science Foundation (NSF) CAREER Award and the Young Investigator Program (YIP) from the Office of Naval Research to develop strategies to address the problem and advance the system.

In a nutshell, here’s what she’s doing in this video.