The Daily Planet featured the robotics collaboration between York Professor Michael Jenkin and McGill University Professor Gregory Dudek on January 14, 2011.They are the co-creaters of AQUA, a small submersible robot that swims using paddle legs and carries cameras and position sensors that relay information back to the screen of the tablet computer via an optical fibre.

The clip focuses on recent efforts to teach AQUA to move as easily on sand as it does in the water, and its first attempt at tether-less swimming. Several students attached to the project also appear in the footage. You can watch it on the Discovery channel's website.

Jenkin is just one of the researchers based in York’s state-of-the-art Sherman Health Science Research Centre. Jenkin leads the Canadian Centre for Field Robotics, which is based on the building’s main level, and is a member of the Centre for Vision Research.

The AQUA project is funded in part by the Natural Sciences & Engineering Research Council of Canada.

Posted by Elizabeth Monier-Williams, research communications officer, with files courtesy of YFile– York University’s daily e-bulletin