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SurferBot

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Surferbot is a low-cost, 3D-printed robot driven by a vibration motor and a battery cell.

Its off-center vibration motor creates asymmetric capillary waves that drive the bot forward.

The capillary waves created by the vibration are larger at the rear end of the robot (left) than at the front (right), creating the asymmetry that propels it.

At the surface, SurferBot generates a strong jet in its wake and a trapped pair of counter-rotating vortices ahead of it.

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Celebrating the physics of all that flows

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