Carp-like robot fish to help monitor ocean pollution

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In 2011, patterned after a carp, a model robot fish will find its way into the sea off the northern part of Spain.

It was designed and built by professor Huosheng Hu and his team at the University of Essex, United Kingdom. According to Prof. Hu the carp-designed robot fish will help prevent the discharging of anything dangerous or hazardous into the sea. The robot fish has an eight-hour battery, does not require remote control, and will be ready in around 18 months time.

There actually is a “little lab onboard a fish,” according to Rory Doyle, BMT Group’s research scientist, an engineering company in-charge with the project and gathers funds from the European Commission. The constructs are equipped with chemical sensors and can transmit data back their control center, which is located in the port of Gijón.

The team decided to use a fish design because it is an energy-efficient design that has passed through years of evolution. The robots are expensive; each costs £20,000 ($29,000). The team hopes that the constructs will be used in rivers, lakes and seas across the world.

The robot fish, seal-sized and about 1.5 meters long, has the ability to identify dangerous chemical leaks and fertilizer overflow. It will allow scientists to check in real-time basis the causes and effects of pollution. Designed to be strong to handle any possibility of unexpected mishaps, the fish cannot easily be caught in nets. Its interior tracking system prevents it from crashing into undersea terrain and boats. In the London Aquarium, where it is currently swimming, sharks stay away from the phony fish, possibly due to its electromagnetic field, which the predators find unpleasant.

Presently, scientists are doing further studies to make sure that the robot will not in any way disturb the natural sea environment.

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