TALLINN, Estonia — The Baltic seabed, littered with war debris and shipwrecks, has fascinated historians and researchers through the ages. But the underwater search robots they use pose problems by further disturbing the silty waters with their propeller movements.

Estonian engineers say they may have found a solution with their latest invention — a small, propellerless underwater robot that causes minimum disturbance and lowers the risk of damage to submarine archaeology.

The unique feature of the U-CAT, about the size of a vacuum cleaner, is four silicon flippers inspired by streamlined sea turtles’ arms and legs.

“They move in a slow and quiet motion and won’t bring up sediment from the (sea) bottom,” says Taavi Salumae, a designer at the Biorobotics Center of Tallinn University of Technology.

The underwater probe has been developed since 2012 in the EU-funded Arrows project that focuses on new technologies for marine research. It can stay submerged for four hours at a depth of 330 feet on a single battery charge of two hours. It’s equipped with a camera and lights.