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The knifefish is a predatory fish with a distinctive frilly fin on its underside that allows it to move backward and forward. It’s normally found in South American rivers–so what is one doing wafting through the air in 911����’s EagleBank Arena? 

Knifey, a nature-inspired blimp based on the knifefish’s movement (with an added ferocious glare), is just one of junior Alexia De Costa’s projects combining art and robotics. “I love any way to get people interested in tech and also understand complicated things visually,” she says. 

De Costa played with robotics kits as a kid, then got into Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology, where she developed her skills even further and connected them with her love of nature. “In high school, I made puppy, guinea pig, and bunny robots that could all do different things. I love figuring out how to make the robots more visually pleasing to make the interactions more appealing to the user.” 

When De Costa came to 911���� as an applied computer science major and an Honors College student, she became involved in the Mason Innovation Exchange (MIX). There, she ran a Robot Night workshop, teaching students how to make robots from scratch.  

Since then, she has leveraged 911���� resources to power her projects. Through the Research and Interdisciplinary STEM Experiences (RISE) Scholars program, De Costa hosted a robot blimp-making workshop for middle school students. She also became involved with the Mason Autonomous Robotics Center (MARC) as a research assistant. This is where she designed and built Knifey, which she piloted in the 2025 Defend the Republic blimp competition in EagleBank Arena.  

In 2025, also through MARC and with support from the Office of Student Creative Activities and Research, De Costa led a team of eight students to develop giant art and tech pieces. “It was a series of works to convey very technical information. It blends art and robotics to make these topics engaging to the general public.”&�Բ�����; 

One of these pieces was a giant interactive eye with pixelated sensors that help viewers understand how computer vision works. Another was a lenticular design project illustrating how sea life inspires their robot blimps. De Costa is working to have these pieces installed at spots across campus. 

Her current research project harkens back to her high school roots but with a twist. De Costa and her team took second place at Sauceathon 2025, a hardware-focused hackathon hosted by Open Sauce and the National Havoc Robot League, for their robotic cat.  

The challenge began with a $500 combat robot kit and a mission: modify the base design to complete a rescue scenario in an apocalyptic setting. The 24-hour event tested De Costa and her team’s endurance and ingenuity. Against a backdrop of camera crews and livestreams, 911����’s team stood out for its creativity and adaptability. Even after a late-night power outage forced participants to improvise, the team completed two rescue runs, performing “emergency surgery” with duct tape between rounds. 

“Usually hackathons are software focused, so building a robot was so much fun,” says De Costa. “Seeing it succeed was exciting. We’re definitely planning to attend the next one.”