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Assistant Professor Nicole Xu recently spoke with Nature for a feature about biohybrid robots and their real-world applications.

Xu and her collaborators have been working on a jellyfish-inspired robot that can help monitor climate change and ecological shifts in the Earth's oceans. 

"Jellyfish have a number of appealing characteristics for roboticists. They are energy-efficient swimmers, and are able to descend to great depths. Compared with current mechanical submersibles, Xu says, jellyfish are less likely to cause damage to marine environments. Their natural appearance and quietness also make them unremarkable — during the ocean tests, fish swam right up to them."

 works at the intersection of robotics, fluid dynamics and biology. Their methods include laboratory experiments, theoretical modeling and field work.