Robot Fish Looks Tasty, Probably Isn’t
Writing by Evan Ackerman on Tuesday, 29 of July , 2008 at 4:28 am
First off, I want to apologize for my lack of updates this week… BotJunkie doesn’t exactly put all that many amps in my Roomba, if you take my meaning, and my ::cough:: “real” job is sucking up most of my sanity at the moment. If only I had, I dunno, some sort of artificial intelligent mechanical system to do all of my grunt work for me so that I could blog about robots all day and night. Hmm, someone should get on that. Anyhow, enough about me, let’s talk about fish:
This is a bream. A sea bream. A robotic sea bream. Robotic fish are not at all uncommon, but they tend to be either very pretty or unapologetically functional. This fish, named “Tai-robot-kun” (meaning something “robot” something”), has a nice, balanced combination of both prettiness and functionality blended into an entirely realistic body. The prettiness comes from being anatomically correct (on the outside, at least) and sporting hand painted (!) scales. As for functionality, it’s got a bunch of different cameras and sensors and is designed to be dropped in the ocean to do autonomous research without disturbing the residents. Since it looks like a fish, and swims like a fish, I imagine it will be quite successful, until it gets eaten.
The fishbot isn’t supposed to be too expensive and is designed to be mass produced. The designers, from the University of Kitakyushu in Japan, are also reportedly working on a robotic manta ray that should operate on a similar (but way more awesome) principle.
VIA [ Pink Tentacle ]
Comments (5)
Category: Biorobotics, Research
- Add this post to
- Del.icio.us -
- Digg
Comment by big magu
Made Wednesday, 30 of July , 2008 at 6:25 pm
Big eyes but a nice fish.
Comment by erin
Made Sunday, 3 of August , 2008 at 1:17 pm
very cool fish. i’ve seen a few of these things and I’m always surprised how close to real life their swim patterns are.
just for fun- tai-robot-kun means Red-Snapper robot. kun is a respectful tag put on the end of a name of a person, usually a peer.
Comment by Iron Man
Made Monday, 4 of August , 2008 at 11:22 am
EVAN I NEED MY FIX!!!!!!!!
I NEED MORE DAILY ROBOTICS NEWS!!!!!
QUIT YOUR OTHER JOB!!!!
PLZ?
Comment by parker. a.
Made Sunday, 17 of August , 2008 at 7:53 pm
But why?
I don’t see large robotic Angus heifer posts!
Why a fish that can’t be eaten?
are they being released into the ocean to become food for larger robotic fish.
Comment by parker. a.
Made Sunday, 17 of August , 2008 at 7:54 pm
and, I concur with Iron Man.