Results

 Models, design technologies, and results from the BIODRONES Project are made publicly available through open-access platforms such as GitHub and Zenodo. A final workshop was held to present the project’s findings and share the knowledge gained throughout this research.

Analyzing the geometric differences between the baseline and optimized configurations, it can be noted that the optimized external shape exhibits a planform that is visually closer to a bird than to the original manta-inspired geometry. This observation motivates a final remark on biomimicry: unlike AUGs, real fish maintain neutral buoyancy through their swim bladder and rely on muscular propulsion, and manta rays are therefore optimized for efficient swimming rather than lift generation. Conceptually, an underwater glider operating through buoyancy-driven motion is closer to a soaring bird than to a swimming fish. The emergence of a bird-like planform in the optimized design can thus be interpreted as an indication of the effectiveness of the automatic optimization process in identifying geometries that are consistent with the underlying buoyancy-driven propulsion mechanism of underwater gliders. [https://arxiv.org/abs/2602.08508]