Robocarp: Mecha Fish to Track Oil Spills

by jordan | June 11, 2008 at 12:33 pm | 294 views | 6 comments

Researchers at the University of Washington in Seattle have developed a new type of robotic fish which moves through the water as a real fish does: with fins. Such locomotion makes the mechafish more energy-efficient and maneuverable. But that's not all: these fish-bots can communiate with each other via sonar-like pings, though the developers are working on a more advanced communications system.

By mimicking a fish's natural propulsion mechanics these "autonomous fin-actuated underwater vehicles" are able to swim in any direction, make tight turns, and even go backwards, researchers say. The university is testing three of the vehicles in an indoor freshwater tank equipped with a four-camera tracking system to supplement data collected by onboard sensors.

And, yes, the military is interested. Speaking of which, iRobot has won the commercial rights to the another University of Washington project called the Seaglider. iRobot is no stranger to such projects. While most widely known for their Roomba, iRobot also builds a bomb-busting robot that is on active duty in Afghanistan, as well as a combat robot that is meant to deploy this year.

Drone maker iRobot today announced plans to work with the University of Washington on an Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, or AUV, called Seaglider.

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Karen Hatter

at 12:52 on June 11th, 2008

good stuff:

That's so interesting! Well, Jordan, I guess programming beats training! When I read this, I thought of Day of the Dolphins and the dolphins, Alpha and Beta or Fa and Be, for short. It was the military application that sent my mind there.

jordan

at 13:53 on June 11th, 2008

I also can't help but think of stuff like The Abyss. It's amazing how something as close to us as the ocean presents exploration and navigation problems that take us to the bleeding edge of our technology, only to bring us back to mechanical fish. I love this stuff.

(Thanks for the flag!)

generaldecay

at 13:58 on June 11th, 2008

good stuff:

jordan, nice one!

Mind you, I was about to ask: 'Why on earth... ?!' (because I'm a bit of a thick when it comes to technology), but then I read that the military are interested. Yes, that makes sense! :)