Washington: An underwater robot can now swim its way wirelessly, all thanks to a waterproof controller designed and built by York University researchers.

AQUA, an amphibious, otter-like robot, is small and nimble, with flippers rather than propellers, designed for intricate data collection from shipwrecks and reefs.

The robot, a joint project of York, McGill and Dalhousie universities, can now be controlled wirelessly using a waterproof tablet built at York.

While underwater, divers can program the tablet to display tags onscreen, similar to barcodes read by smartphones.

The robot's on-board camera then scans these two-dimensional tags to receive and carry out commands.

Having a robot tethered to a vehicle above water creates a scenario where communication between the...