Robotic fish can 'see' and mimic live fish

Date:  February 7, 2018

Source:  NYU Tandon School of Engineering

Summary:

Researchers tapped advances in real-time tracking software and robotics to design and test the first closed-loop control system featuring a bioinspired robotic replica interacting in three dimensions with live zebrafish. The system allows the robotic replica to both 'see' and mimic the behavior of live zebrafish in real time. Robots previously have been deployed alongside live animals to better understand animal behavior but the encounters were unidirectional.

Read on 

Robotic Fish Gain New Sense: Navigate Water Currents and Turbulence

Mar. 6, 2013 — Scientists have developed robots with a new sense -- lateral line sensing. All fish have this sensing organ but so far it had no technological counterpart on human-made underwater vehicles.

In an article published in Proceedings of the Royal Society A, researchers describe a robotic fish that is controlled with the help of lateral line sensors.

Robotic fish. (Credit: Image courtesy of Tallinn University of Technology)

During the last 4 years, the EU funded European research project FILOSE has investigated fish lateral line sensing and locomotion with the aims of understanding how fish detect and exploit flow features, and of developing efficient underwater robots based on biological principles.

Though flow is a highly volatile and unsteady state of matter, it can nonetheless be measured and characterized based on many salient features that do not change much in space and time (such as flow direction or turbulence intensity, for example). These salient features can then be described as a "flowscape" -- a flow landscape that helps fish and robots to orient themselves, navigate and control their movements.

Continued:  http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/03/130306084201.htm

Robotic fish can make real fish like them simply by waving their artificial tails in a special way, researchers say.

These droids could lead real fish away from perils such as underwater turbines, and help scientists learn more about how real animals behave, investigators added.

Roboticists have long turned to nature for inspiration when designing robots. For instance, a robot that copies roaches' ability to quickly disappear under ledges could lead to droids with animal-like maneuverability, while another robot can alter its colors to hide or stand out in its environment just like an octopus.

Continued:  http://www.livescience.com/24763-robot-fish-lures-zebrafish.html