Dr. Santhanakrishnan uses bio-inspired robotic models to study some of the Animal Kingdom’s most amazing feats.  How do tiny insects fly...even those that are as small as a grain of sand? How do sea creatures swim so efficiently…even those as small and oddly shaped as shrimp and krill? The Wright Brothers spent countless hours watching birds fly to help them develop the first successful airplane. In that same vein, engineers often use animals (biology) to make robotic devices more useful or efficient. In addition to development of new devices and technologies such as tiny, energy-efficient drones, biologically inspired engineering can also provide useful tools for studying fundamental biological questions.