Robot Fish Powered By Artificial Muscle

x2agent points to this article on yomiuri.com, excerpting: "Start-up companies in Osaka Prefecture have developed what is believed to be the world's first fish robot with artificial muscles capable of reproducing the natural movements of real fish." z2agent writes "I found this article while I was searching for something about robots and thought it was interesting. I was wondering where do you draw the line between 'robots' and 'remote controlled car with a Skil saw mounted to the front' like in Battle Bots?"

Comments

I think the article got the science wrong...

[Simon Field]

Not unusual, but in one paragraph they call it a "polymer molecule actuator" and in the next they say it works "when the water inside the plate expands in response to electric stimulation".

A better article on artificial muscles can be found a MIT. There is enough information there to actually build one, including sources for the materials.

The MIT work is most likely quite different from the work done at Eamex, as there are a number of approaches to making artificial muscles.

Another article describes yet another approach, but also gets some of the science wrong.

Oh, well...