Most people see a turtle skim across a pond and move on. Evan Budz, a 15-year-old Grade 10 student from Burlington, Ontario, saw one and thought, what if a robot moved like that?
That question became BURT, short for Bionic Underwater Robotic Turtle, an AI-powered aquatic robot that mimics the swimming motion of a snapping turtle instead of the loud, turbulent propellers of most underwater drones. BURT has four flippers to move. The front two are for propulsion and the rear two are for steering and stability.
