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Pollution Sniffing Robotic Fish -- Seriously

by Peter Mychalcewycz on March 20, 2009 at 01:56 PM


Researchers at the University of Essex in Colchester, England have come up with an original and awesome way to study pollution in the Thames River: pollution-detecting schools of robotic fish. No joke.

The £2.5 million (about $1.8 million US dollars) project backed by the European Union is an example of what brilliant people can do if given the right financial backing. The robo-fish will be about 20 inches long, 5 inches high, and 4 inches wide and capable of "swarm intelligence techniques," which, according to the Daily Mail, will allow the fish to maneuver as a unified group independent of human guidance. The devices, equipped with multiple pollution sensors, will be able to locate and analyze potentially hazardous chemicals. The fish can even communicate with other fish in the "school" via GPS.

If they pull this off, the scientists responsible deserve a round of applause. They might even want to send a few of these bots over our way to do a little sniffing around New York's East River. [From: Dailymail]


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Tags: pollution, robot, robot fish, RobotFish, robots, scientists

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