Maneuverability of a BioInspired Swimming Robot Through Morphological Transformation Controlling Morphology Driven Control of a Swimming Robot By Kai Junge, Nana Obayashi , Francesco Stella , Cosimo Della Santina , and Josie Hughes B iology provides many examples of how body adaption can be used to achieve a change in functionality. The feather star, an underwater crinoid that uses feather arms to locomote and feed, is one such system; it releases its arms to Digital Object Identifier 10.1109/MRA.2022.3198821 Date of current version: 1 September 2022 78 * IEEE ROBOTICS & AUTOMATION MAGAZINE * DECEMBER 2022 distract prey and vary its maneuverability to help escape predators. Using this crinoid as inspiration, we develop a robotic system that can alter its interaction with the environment by changing its morphology. We propose a robot that can actuate layers of flexible feathers and detach them at will. We first optimize the geometric and control parameters for a flexible feather using a hydrodynamic simulation followed by physical experiments. Second, we provide a theoretical framework for understanding how body change affects controllability. Third, we present a novel design of a soft swimming robot (Figure 1) with the ability of changing its morphology. Using this optimized 1070-9932/22©2022IEEEhttps://orcid.org/0000-0002-7819-1279 https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4724-1886 https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1067-1134 https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8410-3565