MIT researchers have developed a robot inspired by the razor clam. According to the engineers, this RoboClam could lead to a ’smart’ anchor that burrows through the ocean floor to reposition itself and could even reverse. These small robots, which have the size of a cigarette lighter, could be used as ‘tethers for small robotic submarines that are routinely repositioned to monitor variables such as currents and temperature. [They also could] be directed to a specific location could also be useful as a detonator for buried underwater mines.

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