Robo-Fish Attracts Living Kin with Tail Wave
- Charles Choi for livescience.com November 14th, 2012
- Source: http://www.livescience.com/24763-robot-fish-lures-zebrafish.html
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.
Robot fish convincing enough to lead groups of real fish around are being developed by mechanical engineer Maurizio Porfiri at the Polytechnic Institute of New York University and his colleagues.
