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Subscribe to RSSScientists have deployed fish aimed at detecting pollutants in the water at a cost of around $31,600 each. Msnbc.com's Dara Brown reports.
In a bid to track sea pollution by mimicking how fish navigate and work together, scientists on Tuesday moved their robotic fish from the lab to the sea.
The technology could reduce the time it takes to detect a pollutant from weeks to just seconds, the scientists said in a statement. It could also aid underwater security, diver monitoring and search and rescue efforts.
Partly funded by the European Union, the SHOAL Consortium deployed its test robots at the northern Spanish port of Gijon on Tuesday.
The fish -- 5 feet long and costing about $31,600 each -- are designed to swim like real fish and have sensors to pick up pollutants.
They swim independently but coordinate their actions and send data back to a shore station more than a half mile away.
"Chemical sensors fitted to the fish permit real-time, in-situ analysis, rather than the current method of sample collection and dispatch to a shore-based laboratory," Luke Speller, a SHOAL scientist who led the project, said in the statement.
Through artificial intelligence software, the fish can avoid obstacles, map their location and return to base when their eight-hour batteries run low, SHOAL stated.
"Significantly," SHOAL added, "the robotic fish have been developed to blend into the marine environment in such a way that marine life is neither disrupted nor impacted in any negative way by their presence, but carries on naturally."
Courtesy SHOAL Consortium
The specimen is one of the robotic fish developed by the SHOAL Consortium.
So what happens if one is mistakenly caught by a fisherman? "The fish are able to detect where they are with the array of sensors they have," the researchers say on the Frequently Asked Questions section of their website. "As soon as they are removed from the water they set off a distress beacon that alerts the port authorities who can act immediately."
And why even design them to look like fish? They "have an incredibly small turning circle allowing them to navigate quickly in ports both to find pollution and avoid ships and the port infrastructure," the researchers added. "It's also low noise so as to not disturb the environment when outside of busy ports."
After testing this week, the team will make any modifications needed to move the fish into commercial production.
The project draws on expertise from the University of Essex and the University of Strathclyde in Britain; Ireland's Tyndall National Institute; and Thales Safare, part of Europe's largest defense electronics group.
Reuters contributed to this report.
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Another interesting approach is what Dr. Daniel Nebert did with his Glo-Fish project where he injected a florescent protein into real zebra fish to detect pollutants in lakes or reservoirs. I was lucky to be there at his TED speech here in Cincinnati:
Spain??? They fish for anything..whatever they catch will be served at dinner (wires ,senors and all in this case)!
Recall a fish dinner in Spain years ago..asked what its called..they said tubele dida..translated..very dark tire tubes.
I wonder if this robotic fish can be devoured by, say, a shark, a REAL fish.
You know, the shark may not know if it's a robot or real fish before it's too late.
Sharks usually take a nibble then F off if its not the real thing. Thats why people usually keep their limbs in shark attacks.
I seen those on Lost. If you look close you can see the words "Dharma Initiative" written on the head.
well, it is good to learn one obvious fact. A Bright Yellow object near the fish does not alarm them. (???)
Travis E. That made me laugh thanks.
PS> These guys could have thrown in a new Hyundai, say a $14,000 version, track it with LowJack, and pick it up somewhere near Italy.. this ALREADY saves them $20k plus! THEN, THEN! Use the rest of the money to fund other silly projects.. maybe one that would track gigantic flying robotic insects that would fly to the sun to research sun flares! YEAH!
Sounds kind of fishy to me....
If they created a robotic fish that consumed/ate the pollution, then I'd be interested....
I hope no one tries to eat it ....
Very cool.... except.... What if a boat hits it? Does the fish submerge deep enough to avoid boat propellers?
wait till a sea lion or a shark decides to take a closer peek at it, 31K down the drain.
In that case, they just spent 31K on a hilarious YouTube video.
I wonder how long until the Japanese decide they need to harpoon these things - you know, for "research".
If there was only one whale left on the planet, they would eat it.
If there was only one... may as well eat it! Not like it's gonna matter, it can't mate with itself!
2 months from now pieces of this fish will be in some Japanese fish market selling for $300/pound
Nobody's asking the most important question: what if a bigger fish mistakes it for lunch? So long $30,000 robo-fish:)
not those exact words, but bigbenalaska did sa "I hope no one tries to eat it ...."
what are the huge benefits of being aware of the presence of a pollutant once it's in the water, instead of days or weeks? Not saying there are none, I'm just not aware of any.
Thats the largest crank bait I've ever seen
I sure hope it can operate more than half a mile away from the data station as indicated in the article. Other wise it's usless.
first maybe we should stop throwing trash into it,then monitor how were doing,fish and other species,are swallowing plastic,choking to death,chemicals,etc .We need to stop now,some selfless moron will say,but I use plastic bags when I shop,too bad loser,paper or cloth or carry them on your head.We need to address our waste now,not tomorrow.
Pack those fish with c4.
Absolutely amazing utilizing technology that can be beneficial in combating pollutants and other chemicals which can be detrimental to our environment....bravo to the engineers and designers.
LOL what a waste of time & money!
no fkn feces
Fighting garbage with garbage. Makes sense.
Maybe we should just spend a lot of money in trying not to pollute the sea in the first place ......
Well, the purpose of this is to determine what the problem (amount of pollution) is, so then there could be awarness of the problem, thus people will then take action to stop polluting the ocean.
It's not as obvious to others that sea pollution is bad, so that's why evidence has to be presented to them.
This is definitely the coolest news I've read in a while. For people saying the 'what ifs' perhaps you can actually read the article. This highly advanced robotic fish has the technology to avoid danger while maintaining a low key presence and can avoid ships too. Just wish some of the american universities and colleges were able to contribute to a big project like this. Oh that's right we're busy making fun of stories like this and trying to find ways to politicise it so we can say we're right and the other side is wrong.
Only 8 hours of swim time? High maintenance fish! They need to design one that can recharge off the Sun so it can stay out for several days...much cheaper to maintain.
Or how about tagging actual fish like they have been doing for years and gathering valuable data ? Whats wrong with that ?
Read the article and you'll find out...
lol, I love the comments on MSNBC.
If the article is about sports, they bitch about how we play sports. If the article is about robotic fish, they bitch about robotic fish. Always miserable, always whining, lol. Get a life.
Has to be the most miserable bunch of complainers on the planet.
You do realize YOU are complaining?? Right???
Of course Tim is part of that miserable bunch..he just admitted it with his comment!
lol, touche
at such a price tag...me a b##ch if a killer whale or Great White mistake it Good Mood Food. Oh, that's alright...it's research and just like everything else...just throw it on the backs of ole taxpayer...we're only on the hook for fast approaching 17 Tril. oh hum.
This needs to be part of the EU's austerity measures ....I am all for clean oceans ....but this looks like something from Toys "R" Us
Ive seen sharks and other sea creatures attack inanimate objects many times! Great way to waste more tax dollars!!! 30,000 dollar lures!! what a great invention!! (that was sarcasm)
Tim in order to find the most miserable complainers of all time you simply just need to switch websites to any site where people can type a sentence and it will be about a 1000 way battle for 1st place. Now about the story will these fish sell each other out? What I mean is if one of them breaks down they technically become the pollutant at that point so other thriving robot fish must sell out their own.
Now this is what I like to see. Awesome science being used for awesome reasons.
At last...a foolish project that wasn't funded by Obama!
With 30K, I would buy a boat, a net... and go around scooping out some of the garbage but would probably end up catching a big yellow, fake fish instead.