Raphael Zufferey

“You have to do some adaptation to make that transition work. But there's a solution that exists in nature,”

Raphael Zufferey · said date not stated · reported 2026-07-09

Zufferey explains that transitioning between air and water requires adaptation, but a solution exists in nature.

“It would dive into the water to take a measurement or collect a sample, and fly back to deliver the data at a fraction of the cost of traditional methods. Then it could go back out to dive for more.”

Raphael Zufferey · said date not stated · reported 2026-07-09

Zufferey continues describing how the robot would dive to take measurements, deliver data at low cost, and repeat the process.

“You could send this out not just every week, but every hour. It could fly out at high speeds, dive in, fly back, deliver its data and go back out, multiple times.”

Raphael Zufferey · said date not stated · reported 2026-07-09

Zufferey elaborates that the robot could be sent out every hour to fly, dive, deliver data, and repeat multiple times.

“One of the major challenges in ocean science is collecting data both frequently and across many locations, which is something this robot could do in the future,”

Raphael Zufferey · said date not stated · reported 2026-07-09

Zufferey identifies frequent data collection across many locations as a major challenge in ocean science that the robot could address.

“Our dream vision is for oceanographers, marine biologists and members of coastal communities to launch this robot from a boat, or from shore, and it would fly close to the area of interest, such as an iceberg or a port facility, or over a pod of whales,”

Raphael Zufferey · said date not stated · reported 2026-07-09

Zufferey describes a vision where oceanographers, marine biologists and coastal communities use the robot to fly to areas of interest and collect data.

“If you look at birds, most birds need to paddle at the surface to take off. And the question was, do we need the same for robots? And it turns out we don't,”

Raphael Zufferey · said date not stated · reported 2026-07-09

Zufferey explains that while most birds paddle at the surface to take off, the researchers found robots do not need the same paddling maneuver.

“Birds like puffins can fly very fast through the air, and can dive and swim through water at speeds of 3 meters per second. They're able to do pretty amazing things. So we knew it was possible. Just no one had tried this in a mobile robotic system.”

Raphael Zufferey · said date not stated · reported 2026-07-09

Zufferey notes that puffins can fly fast through air and swim through water, and that no one had tried replicating this in a mobile robotic system.