It’s a bird, it’s a plane … it’s a robo-puffin?

Birds like gulls and puffins can effortlessly move between air and water, a feat that seems impossible due to the vast difference in density between the two mediums.

Water is 1,000 times denser than air, meaning movement requires entirely different mechanics in each environment.

Yet these birds dive into the sea, swim underwater, and then fly back into the air as if it were routine.

Engineers at MIT and EPFL in Lausanne, Switzerland, were inspired by this ability and designed a robot that mimics these actions.

The robot, called the flapping-wing aerial-aquatic vehicle (FAAV), weighs less than 300 grams—about half a pound—and is equipped with a central body, two flexible wings, and a steerable tail.

The wings are made of thin membranes coated with hydrophobic nanoparticles to repel water, while the tail helps control movement in both air and water.