The invention discloses a soft bionic underwater detection robot. The soft bionic underwater detection robot comprises a head detection mechanism, movable base bodies, a mechanical arm module, a spherical hydraulic muscle joint, a tail swing mechanism, a control circuit board and a battery module. Mechanical arms based on a swing mechanism driven by shape memory alloy and a motor in a mixed manneris adopted, a spherical hydraulic muscle joint structure is adopted at the joint of the movable base bodies, the swing degrees of the mechanical arms are changed according to the deformation degree of the spherical joint, and the obstacle passing capacity of the robot is greatly improved. Composite grabbing structures are designed at the tail ends of the mechanical arms, soft hydraulic claws andrigid mechanical claws are combined, and therefore the grabbing capacity of the robot is improved. The tail swing mechanism is based on the electromagnetic principle, and two independently controlledcoils are adopted to attract or repel a magnet between the two coils, so that the swing function is achieved. An ultrasonic detection sensor, an infrared camera and other sensors are integrated in thehead detection mechanism, so that the robot has very high environmental adaptability and working capacity in an underwater natural environment.