At the MIT AURA lab, we study bio-inspired methods and unconventional designs to solve seamless aerial and aquatic locomotion for applications in ocean sciences.
Since January 2025.

News

April 2025, Victor and Erik joined the lab as visiting MSc students from EPFL
Mar 2025, Shun Tang joined the lab as a UROP
Feb 2025, we will chair the REaCT: Robotics for Environmental and Climate Assessment workshop at ICRA 2025. Poster submissions open!
Jan 2025, Adam Cohen joined the lab
Jan 2025, start of the MIT AURA lab !

Aerial-Aquatic bio-inspired robots

We develop new propulsion methods to enable both flight and underwater locomotion in robots, with a particular focus on transitions & bio-inspiration. We are currently solving challenging transition questions through experimental methods and are studying autonomy, simulation and integration aspects.

Monitoring of aquatic environments

The ultimate objective of our robotic systems is to operate in our ocean and waterways without user intervention, and have a positive impact for oceanographers, biologists. To this end, we seek to understand how non-intrusive, small-scale systems can deliver high quality data in a cost-effective manner.

Published projects

Highlights of future and past research projects. List of publication on ORCID and Google Scholar.

Perching with Flapping Wings

Large-scale flapping-wing robots with physical contact capabilities. Perching on a branch has been achieved!

Aquatic Jump-glider

A novel water-reactive fuel thruster for impulsive take-off, allowing multiple jump-gliding from the water surface.

SailMAV

Sailing-Flying locomotion method for long-duration aerial-aquatic missions thanks to wind energy harvesting.

MEDUSA

A Multi-Environment Dual-Robot for Underwater Sample Acquisition. The underwater pod can move, film and sample.

Robobee

Aquatic escape of a 160 milligram robotic bee using flapping flight, hydrogen combustion and electrolysis.

HAMR

Quadrupedal legged Harvard Ambulatory Micro Robot (HAMR) with custom electronics and wireless control.

Raphael Zufferey

PI

Adam Cohen

Grad student

Erik Mortensen

Visiting MSc

Victor Pennacino

Visiting MSc

Shun Tang

UROP

Join the lab!

I am looking for motivated students that are excited to study and develop the next generation of hybrid autonomous systems.
To join the lab, you should apply to the Mechanical Engineering graduate admissions (deadline each year in December), and mention my name in the application. Please also send me an email with your CV, and a summary of previous projects or research. I am interested to know why you would like to join this group and what research aspects you feel most excited about. Use [AURA Prospective student] Your name in the title.
We also welcome undergrad students for internships, especially those wishing to learn more about entire robotic system design and integration. Some hands-on experience, including personal projects is a big plus.

Internal access

  • Address

    MIT Mechanical Engineering
    77 Massachusetts Avenue
    02140, Cambridge