EFFICIENCY

In Winter Term of 2026, I began testing efficiency at the University of Washington by measuring static bollard pull over Watts of power, following "Props vs. Fins" from the Naval Research Laboratory. I did this with two students, Anne Marie Zink and Xianzhi (Kevin) Bi, under Professor Seroy, for Oceans 462B. Notwithstanding that there are many improvements to be made, the Polywog was already as efficient as a propeller based system and more efficient than ALL previous robotic fish! Deployment time for this crude prototype, with rechargeable lead-acid batteries, is measured in tens of hours.