China's 10 top scientific advances of 2021 were unveiled on Feb 28 by the Ministry of Science and Technology's High Technology Research and Development Center. A self-powered deep-sea soft robot developed by Zhejiang University and Zhejiang Lab was on the list.

An illustration of the self-powered deep-sea soft robot in the Mariana Trench. [Photo/Website of Zhejiang Lab]

The research team from East China's Zhejiang province created the world's first soft robot that can be operated 10,000 meters under the ocean's surface and completed the world's first deep-sea free-swimming test of a soft robot, in the Mariana Trench.