A swimming robot? Wait a minute, don’t we already have that in the form of Emily who recently saved a couple of lives? I guess there is more than meets the eye with the Swimming Human Model, where it is known as Swumanoid for short. His designers are real proud of him, and for good reason, too. After all, he is touted to be the “most advanced swimming robot ever made”, where he was created so that engineers are able to better study the fluid mechanics at work surrounding competitive swimmers in the pool. The whole idea of Swumanoid is to improve swimmers’ actions – and as a result, lap times. Measuring half the size of a human, all four limbs will move simultaneously courtesy of a combination of 20 independent motors that will control key joints.
According to Associate Professor Motomu Nakashima, Tokyo Institute of Technology, “I believe that this level of a realistically human-like swimming robot being perfected is a first in the world.” Swumanoid holds a huge advantage over human test subjects, as he can reproduce the same pre-programmed movements repeatedly without fail or having any variance for a more accurate analysis. Does this mean Speedo can slow down on their swimsuit research? No, but one thing’s for sure – expect even more world records to fall in the future as swimming strokes are perfected.