A team of researchers at the University of Essex has received European funds worth 2.5 million pounds to complete a project to construct a robotic fish shaped like Carp able to monitor the pollution from ports.
The professor Huosheng Hu said that the project will contribute to the identification of the chemicals and the harmful substances in water. He explained that the fish will be equipped with sensors that can identify and monitor the pollutants from the ports around Europe.
“In using robotic fish we are building on a design created by hundreds of millions of years’ worth of evolution which is incredibly energy efficient. This efficiency is something we need to ensure that our pollution detection sensors can navigate in the underwater environment for hours on end.”
“We will produce a system that allows the fish to search underwater, meaning that we will be able to analyze not only chemicals on the surface of the water but also those that are dissolved in the water,” explained Professor Hu.
Thanks to Wi-Fi technology, this robotic fish will be able to transmit the information to the port’s control center via a “charging hub” where the fish can charge their batteries. The fish will cost £20,000 and will measure 1.5 metres in length, being capable to swim at a maximum speed of about one meter per second.
Below you can see how this robotic fish moves:
via BMT
I think this is an incredibly good idea. This is just one of the steps to help us fix the pollution problem on earth. It may be expensive, but in the end I think it will well worth. Even though the fish does not hold a very long charge, it still has enough time to collect data about the pollution in the water. This fish will also able to find leaks in pipelines at the bottom of the ocean which will help save some of these innocent fish. This is also a positive because it is better for all of us humans as well. Soon there will be so much pollution in the water that we won’t be able to swim or enjoy some of the water activities, we all love doing. This fish is a great idea, and in the end it will help us greatly.
Robotic fish to detect pollution is indeed a very novel idea.I don’t think anyone can make out the difference between the robotic fish and real fish unless told.They look and behave so similarly to fish,
Nowadays due to various human activities ocean gets polluted too badly.I have herd about robot fish, but didn’t know that they are useful to detect pollution level in water body. I am sure that it will help a lot to save our oceans form getting polluted and by that we can save valuable aquatic creatures and environment too.
That thing is so realistic I wouldn’t be surprised if it got eaten by a shark. I wonder if the researches have a backup plan for when all the 20000 dollar fish get eaten in the first day.