University of Washington in Seattle has created a team of robotic fish that are programmed to swim together as a school. The three robo-fish were tested in an indoor freshwater tank, and did relatively well sticking together as a unit. The problems that have kept this kind of innovation from succeeding in the past is that radio waves don’t travel well underwater, and that’s what the fish would use to stay in communication with one another. Previous versions of the fish had to be linked together with a cable, or would have to surface to receive signals from a central command. The new versions use sonar-like pings from acoustic modems, or radio when they’re in close proximity of one another.

The fish use servo-actuated two-link tails and flapping pectoral fins, which allow them to swim like any other fish, going in any direction, making sharp turns, or even swimming backwards. Powered by NiMH rechargeable batteries, each fish controls its own movements using onboard microprocessors for collecting data and processing control commands, and they’re equipped with a pressure sensor to gauge depth, and a 3D compass.

The point? Robo-fish that can school can be used to track things such as oil spills and wildlife, gathering much more information and covering much more distance than single units. This means we can learn more at a faster rate…if we can get them to work in the oceans and not just a safe swimming pool. There is also the issue of how sonar pings that the fish use to communicate with one another might interfere with the sonar used by the wildlife they’re sent to track. And also the issue of…well, there are a whole lot of issues yet to be addressed. Let’s just first see if the things can work accurately, I suppose.

Via cnet; photo of jaws by Stormydog

Comments (7)

Subscribe to this comment's feed

...
written by Space , June 12, 2008

Won't they get swallowed by predators?

fish can poop robots?
written by zatcuz , June 13, 2008

yea i dont think there too good for a fishes digestive system, i could be wrong maybe battery acid and metal are great for cleaning a whale's colon

...
written by rory , June 13, 2008

this is stupid. especially if they are as slow as they appear, and run on a battery. they would either get stranded, get damaged and leak battery acid, or get damaged and not return...or...

...
written by Jeff - ScienceSays , June 13, 2008

Very cool - as hard as it is to test things underwater, this could be a great way to automate that process.

...
written by BUHAMUT , June 13, 2008

Fail,
-serveo fins are less ifficent to motor fan
-battery(should replace w- solar)
-fish will eat
-radio way too short range of ocean(need satilite)
-currently no useful sensors equiped

OMG
written by Johnny Bee , June 13, 2008

Those are SOO cool. Looks like they would make great pets!

JT
http://www.FIreme.to/udi

...
written by Bahlkaht , June 15, 2008

The oceans are already full of man made refuse and junk. Why must we have these silly mechanical fish?

Surely they will be eaten by a larger fish which will then be poisoned by the chemicals in the mechanical fish batteries.

What if these fish got out of control? They could severely injure bathers.

Write comment

Name

Email

Website

Title

Comment

Add Comment