Underwater Vehicle Uses a Balloon To Dart Like an Octopus

Zothecula writes When you inflate a balloon and then release it without tying the valve shut, it certainly shoots away quickly. Octopi utilize the same basic principle, although they suck in and then rapidly expel water. An international team of scientists have now replicated that system in a soft-bodied miniature underwater vehicle, which could pave the way for very quickly-accelerating full-size submersibles.

Comments

One-shot motor

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

So it's super-efficient and all... if you intend to move no farther than 10 ft forward.

For greater distances, you could, say, keep the balloon constantly inflated with some kind of pump. And then, to save unnecessary weight and complication, you could do away with the balloon and let the pump shoot out the back of the vehicle directly.

I shall call my invention a hydrojet. Genius!