Robotic Fish To Lead Other Fish Away From Danger

With the recent oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico, many folks are getting more information related to oceanic life and how easily it can be threatened. Now researchers have come up with a robotic fish that’s quite interesting, one that could have been really useful during the oil spill if it were fully developed. The research included an effort to determine what makes one individual amongst a school of fish the leader, and hopefully duplicate those characteristics in the robotic fish, allowing us to lead whole schools of fish away from dangerous areas, such as underwater turbines. This robotic fish is able to swim silently, using ionic polymers that respond to electrical stimulation from a battery to drive the fins, enabling the robot to swim in a smooth-yet-jerky manner, similar to a regular fish. The future vision for this fish is one that doesn’t include batteries, rather it will be smart enough to harness energy from the small eddies and vibrations in the water. While there is plenty of good intention with such inventions, we do wonder whether the kids of the future will be having a couple of these robotic fishes in a fishbowl as pets, similar to Sony’s AIBO. What do you think?