A squid-like underwater robot has been developed by Osaka University in Japan. It was demonstrated in a Kobe swimming pool as part of a recent underwater robot festival. As this robot swims, it resembles a squid. The new robot squid has head fins like a real squid. It has a long, flat body to easily enter narrow spaces. This kind of robot is called "bio-mimetic" because it imitates characteristics of living things.

Although they refer to this as a "squid-type" robot; it does not propel itself by shooting jets of water backward. Long rubber fins on either side of the robot, like those on the sides of the heads of some squids , provide propulsion. It uses actuators embedded in the rubber fins, curling them rhythmically for forward thrust.

According to the Osaka University’s Department of Naval Architecture and Ocean Engineering, underwater robots will have a greater scope of applicability and potential research than bipedal robots.

In addition to the precise control technologies needed to move robots in water, and the systems to maintain their attitude in extremely unstable currents, brand new propulsion systems are being imagined for robots that are being designed to monitor ocean environments, search out underwater resources, as well as perform other underwater missions.