[YouTube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eO9oseiCTdk]
YouTube – Robot Fish
Okay, why exactly do we need $30,000 robotic fish? Fast Company tells us:
It’s a classic example of biomimicry. Fish, and dolphins and sharks, have evolved to the point where their swimming efficiency is extraordinarily high. It’s a vital technique to conserve precious energy reserves in a harsh eco-system, of course, and it puts most human-designed underwater propulsion systems to shame. Hence the interest in developing robot fish, hat can have a higher battery lifespan as a result.
The five-foot long fish in the SHOAL scheme will operate autonomously, swimming at will around selected areas of the ocean, only returning to their base stations every eight hours when they need a charge. They’re going to be equipped with a sophisticated sensor suite that will monitor for ship-and-shore-based chemical spills and oil contamination of the surface and deeper waters off the town of Gijón in Asturias. Their data logs are downloaded wirelessly as they charge, and collated to form a picture of when and where pollution was sourced.
Okay, but I prefer their cool cousins in this video made by Tobias Stretch for the the Aniboom Animation Contest For Radiohead’s In Rainbows.
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