Autonomous RoboFish at the London Aquarium

mikael writes "The London Aquarium currently has an exhibit based on autonomous robotic fish. Each fish is 50 cm long, 15 cm high, and 12cm wide with a maximum swim speed of 50cm/second with battery life lasting up to 5 hours at half speed. The BBC has more details (with video). Many more videos are available at the Robotics Video Gallery." From the article: "We have embedded sensors on board - so, unlike the previous fishes that have remote controls, these are fully autonomous and artificial-intelligence based ... This one is more life-like - it mimics normal swimming and sharp turning ... People get confused and think it's a real fish."

Comments

Do not use Electric Fish in Bathtub!

[billstewart]

Do not use Happy Fun Electric Fish in Bathtub or Aquarium.
Do not taunt Happy Fun Electric Fish.
Keep Happy Fun Electric Fish in refrigerator when not in use.
Do not let Happy Fun Electric Fish locate Sarah Conner..

The next step is....

[elgee]

RoboSushi

So when they run out of batteries?

[nihilistcanada]

Do they float up to the surface upside down?

Re:These sound like an excellent pet!

[mrchaotica]

They require more frequent care than real fish, since you have to recharge the battery every five hours. Now, what they really ought to do is make an automatic charging station shaped like a little castle...

Tunaring Test

[Anonymous Coward]

Can real fish tell the difference? Do they react like they would to another fish...assuming real fish DO react to other fish, I mean. I don't know anything about fish but at least I'm anonymous.

Re:Evolution

[Alien Being]

Or RoboCarp.

Someone had to do it.

[LothDaddy]

1. See /. story about fish
2. Make comment about "friggin lasers on their heads"
3. Get modded +X Funny
4. Profit??

Before Anyone Complains...

[Comatose51]

Before anyone complains about why they make robotics fishes instead of say, a robotic trash picker or something more useful, robotics have been useful in helping us understand biology. While most of us tend to look at robots as tools to serve some purpose of ours, some scientists see robots as models. They formulate a theory and build a robotic model to tend if that theory works. Why not a simulation? Because in the paraphrased words of someone I can't remember, "When you build a robot, you get the rest of the world for free."

One very interesting example of this is when they made a robotic pike or some species of fish that propels through water in a more efficient way than we previously thought was possible. Someone came up with a theory that its movements generate eddies that help propel it along more efficiently. So, they built a robotic model to test this theory and it worked. It did swim like a pike. Does that mean that really is how pikes swim? Not necessarily but it does give some credibility to the theory.

In any case, building robotic models of lifeforms isn't as pointless as it may seem. It's not always just for entertainment.

This would...

[charlie763]

This would be great for displaying an extinct species or a species that is difficult in captivity. Sure, it's not the real thing, but it is a nice alternative. Also, this sort of thing might be good for aquariums that have little funding to maintain many living fish.

I don't know why this would be useful, but it wure would be cool to have a robotic fish buddy while SCUBA diving.