Scientists develop fish robots that can swim underwater and form swarms

Humans have been developing robots for their various purposes for quite a few years now. Depending on their work and usage, the robots vary in shape and sizes. Some of them walk like a four-legged animal while some of them help in manufacturing or heavy lifting of objects. However, researchers and scientists have now gone up to the next level and are seeking inspiration from fishes to develop underwater robots. These robots can autonomously move in swarms. For all the people who are confused about what these underwater fish robots are, here is everything you need to know about it.

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Scientists develop fish robots for eco-conservation

According to a report by AFP, the fish robot is called 'Bluebot'. Scientists from Harvard University have engineered miniature underwater robots that are capable of forming autonomous swarms. Each one of the fish robots known as Blubot will be equipped with cameras and blue LED lights that will sense the direction and distance of others inside water tanks. Interestingly, the fish robots swim using their flapping fins and not propellers.

It improves the efficiency and manoeuvrability of these fish robots as compared to the standard underwater drones. The Blubots are actually inspired by the blue tang fish which are native to coral reefs in Indo-pacific. The fish robots are around four inches long and have been 3D printed from the ground up. The fish Robots are developed by Florian Berlinger, from Harvard University. He had shared a test of search and rescue mission carried out by the Bluebots who were spread out across a water tank to find a light source.

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When one Bluebot from the school found the light source, it instantly sent a signal to them to gather around. In a statement, Berlinger mentioned that it is definitely useful for future applications like a search mission in the open ocean to find people in distress and rescue them quickly. He also added that other applications can include environmental monitoring or inspecting infrastructure.  The new system of Bluebots moves closer in mimicking the natural behaviours of fish which shows complex and coordinated behaviour without following a leader.

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Berlinger noted that other researchers have reached out to him to use his Bluebots as fish surrogates for biological studies on fish swimming and schooling. He also added that the fish robots can help in learning more about collective intelligence in nature. He is currently working on improving the design and eliminating the LED so that they can be used outside of the laboratory settings like that in coral reefs.

Image Credits: Unsplash