Jellyfish are the oldest, simplest, and arguably most successful species of swimming animal in the world. Yet they are primarily considered a nuisance on beaches or, at best, an attraction for aquarium-goers.

I will describe how a biology-inspired approach to engineering has placed jellyfish at the center of efforts to build next-generation underwater vehicles. In particular, physical principles of unsteady vortex dynamics are extracted from laboratory and SCUBA studies of jellyfish, and are subsequently applied to the design of a propeller-driven, unmanned underwater vehicle. Improvements in hydrodynamic efficiency of up to 50 percent are achieved in experiments, demonstrating the potential of bio-inspired approaches to propulsion.

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