Autonomous RoboFish at the London Aquarium

mikael writes "The London Aquarium currently has an exhibit based on autonomous robotic fish. Each fish is 50 cm long, 15 cm high, and 12cm wide with a maximum swim speed of 50cm/second with battery life lasting up to 5 hours at half speed. The BBC has more details (with video). Many more videos are available at the Robotics Video Gallery." From the article: "We have embedded sensors on board - so, unlike the previous fishes that have remote controls, these are fully autonomous and artificial-intelligence based ... This one is more life-like - it mimics normal swimming and sharp turning ... People get confused and think it's a real fish."

Evolution

[I_am_Rambi]

this will soon evolve into a human (given millions of years) and then it will be a police officer. So then we have:

RoboCop

Re:Evolution

[Anonymous Coward]

RoboCop

Correction: RoboCod

Re:Evolution

[Alien Being]

Or RoboCarp.

Re:Evolution

[Paladin84]

Or much like this pun, RoboCrap

Re:Evolution

[Anonymous Coward]

complaining: robo_carp

Re:Evolution

[lordofthechia]

His favorite catchfrase:

"Carpe diem, creep!"

Re:Evolution

[CastrTroy]

You've been playing a little too much animal crossing.

Re:Evolution

[ankarbass]

Slashdot needs a funnier mod, cause if I had mod points....

Re:Evolution

[yeruki]

Ah yes, RoboCop. I doubt it would even take a few million years. Give it....10 years? Maybe.

Re:Evolution

[foniksonik]

The other replies were funny but this one is interesting and funny..

Fish Police

Re:Evolution

[foniksonik]

fish police [toonopedia.com]

hehehehe messed up the link above, that's what you get when you don't preview...

Solar Powered?

[pilotcam]

Just think, if they were only solar powered...

Re:Solar Powered?

[OneDeeTenTee]

or lived on chemicals? clean rivers!

The problem with that is that you'd have to extract the energy-bearing chemicals from the water (water is a chemical too of course) and that would most likely take more energy than it would yield.

It may be possible to make them filter feeders and power them with the methane produced by the decay of whatever organic matter they remove from the water. Solar may be a good supplimental power source if they float when they lose power.

Hmm...

Most every mineral/element can be fo

Do not use Electric Fish in Bathtub!

[billstewart]

Do not use Happy Fun Electric Fish in Bathtub or Aquarium.
Do not taunt Happy Fun Electric Fish.
Keep Happy Fun Electric Fish in refrigerator when not in use.
Do not let Happy Fun Electric Fish locate Sarah Conner..

The next step is....

[elgee]

RoboSushi

Re:The next step is....

[TooMuchEspressoGuy]

Great way to get your daily value of iron, I suppose.

Re:The next step is....

[Hogwash McFly]

Mmm, irony...

Re:The next step is....

[macklin01]

That's funny. I remember getting quite a taste for seafood when snorkeling among rainbow snappers in the Florida Keys. (Mmm, those look tasty!) And when my wife and I saw giant crabs at the Long Beach Aquarium before lunch, all the kids said "whoa," while all the adults said, "Looks like lunch!"

I can only fear the cravings brought on by robot fish!!! :-) -- Paul

These sound like an excellent pet!

[CyricZ]

These sound like a fantastic pet! They appear nowhere near as fake as the various robotic dogs, but offer the benefit of requiring infrequent "care". This is the kind of a pet that incompetent children should have. It doesn't matter if the child doesn't feed the pet on a daily basis.

Re:These sound like an excellent pet!

[ikkonoishi]

If you define infrequent as "every five hours".

I for one do not welcome our short battery life pet fish overlords.

Re:These sound like an excellent pet!

[iosmart]

Yea, the worst will be when the kid witnesses a parent plugging the fish into a wall socket.

Re:These sound like an excellent pet!

[NumbThumb]

...and tries the same with hist little sister.

But seriously: do not decive your children! Tell them what's what! Thanks you.

Re:These sound like an excellent pet!

[mrchaotica]

They require more frequent care than real fish, since you have to recharge the battery every five hours. Now, what they really ought to do is make an automatic charging station shaped like a little castle...

sushi fuel cell?

[pbhj]

Castlised recharge station, pah!

Sushi based fuel cells and mastication equipment ... more like it!

Re:sushi fuel cell?

[mrchaotica]

So your fake fish would eat your real fish? Wouldn't that defeat the purpose, since you'd have to keep stocking the tank with bait?

Re:These sound like an excellent pet!

[tktk]

Why not just run an electric charge through the water?

Re:These sound like an excellent pet!

[mrchaotica]

I don't know, but the summary (REAL Slashdotters don't read articles!) mentioned batteries. I assume the aquarium has a reason, such as allowing the robofish to coexist with real fish, or having it be safe to put your hand in the tank, or something.

Re:These sound like an excellent pet!

[Jace of Fuse!]

I believe just charging the water would not create a current within the fish unless the fish had a ground that didn't also ground the water. Path of lease resistance and all that.

An easier solution would be induction charged fish.

Re:These sound like an excellent pet!

[DrSkwid]

you know you meant least resistance yeah ?

Re:These sound like an excellent pet!

[Jace of Fuse!]

Yes, Least. Sorry about the typo.

Re:These sound like an excellent pet!

[cloudmaster]

For the same reason you can't just hook the positive side of your car's battery up and expect it to work. Voltage is really a difference in potential between two points, and the water would just have a distributed potential that'd be hard to take advantage of for charging purposes. Like the other guy said - induction would be a great way to power these (IMHO).

So when they run out of batteries?

[nihilistcanada]

Do they float up to the surface upside down?

Re:So when they run out of batteries?

[broothal]

Parent is modded funny, but in reality it's an interesting question. It would be a good idea if they did float to the surface when they run out of battery. It makes it a whole lot easier to pick it up and recharge it.

Re:So when they run out of batteries?

[Hogwash McFly]

No, the real question is: when they run out of batteries, do you flush them down the toilet?

Too bad its London Aquarium.... place is a joke

[Anonymous Coward]

I've been to dozens of aquariums all over the world and that one is nearly the worst.

Re:Too bad its London Aquarium.... place is a joke

[ZachPruckowski]

I've been to dozens of aquariums all over the world and that one is nearly the worst.
Well, that explains the "robotic fish" They don't die if they aren't fed. Clearly they became the main attraction as a result of natural selection - all the other exhibits went belly-up.

Turing Test

[Anonymous Coward]

"People get confused and think it's a real fish."

Now, if the fish get confuded and think they're real fish, then, we've got something.

Re:Turing Test

[TooMuchEspressoGuy]

"Now, if the fish get confuded and think they're real fish, then, we've got something."

If the fish "get confuded", then I think there's more than one thing wrong with it.

Re:Turing Test

[greenguy]

Right. 'Cause we all know how difficult it is to fool a fish.

Fuel cell!

[iosmart]

Hmm, now what would happen if they get that thing to run on fuel cell? You could just have a huge tank filled with whatever it runs on :D

Re:Fuel cell!

[Anonymous Coward]

Robot fish swimming in a transparent vat of explosive fluid for public display. Your brilliant.

Laser beams?

[tinrobot]

You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads!

Re:Laser beams?

[Rhinobird]

These are more like illtempered bass.

Re:Laser beams?

[jacksonj04]

But do they sing at you?

fish pfft!

[pbhj]

5 hours battery life ... so do they have a robo-shark (cue jokes about fricking lasers) to track the exhausted ones down and bring them back for fresh batteries?

Tunaring Test

[Anonymous Coward]

Can real fish tell the difference? Do they react like they would to another fish...assuming real fish DO react to other fish, I mean. I don't know anything about fish but at least I'm anonymous.

Re:Tunaring Test

[NanoGator]

"Can real fish tell the difference? Do they react like they would to another fish...assuming real fish DO react to other fish, I mean. I don't know anything about fish but at least I'm anonymous."

I don't know either. It really depends on what the fish react to. If these 'robo fish' make different noises (i.e. gears, etc..) the fish may dodge them simply for that. (I'm curious about what fish are aware of with regards to their enviornment... anybody have any insight to share?)

I remember once I brought a s

Re:Tunaring Test

[chris macura]

Likewise with dogs, although mine uses the stuffed one as a sex toy.

Re:Tunaring Test

[Anonymous Coward]

I suspect they'll get tasted by the big guys.

"Pet" or home tank fish have personalities (so to speak).

Feeder fish - guppies, mollies, swordtails, neons, you know, kiddie fish that the bigger fish eat - seem primarily to respond to the threat of a larger predator, and some of them do not react much. I've seen goldfish swim within a few inches of the front end of an Oscar.

Ciclids (mid and large sized fish from Africa and the Americas) are fairly aware of their surroundings and appear to see out to varying ext

Re:Tunaring Test

[mikael]

A similar experiment was conducted at the Plymouth aquarium. They placed a robotic shark alongside [bbc.co.uk]
real sharks.


Two scientific papers are being proposed on the subject.
Roboshark inventor Andrew Sneath said the sand tiger sharks at the aquarium had accepted their new companion.
"They seem to quite enjoy it and seem intrigued by its presence.
"They are accepting what he's doing and just letting him keep on swimming around," he said.
Andrew will be making the most of the unique education opportunities offer

hahahahahahaha

[Mister White]

...next comes the part where they give them a longer-lasting power supply and then they escape in to the ocean.

Great

[blackpaw]

robot fish porn ...

Someone had to do it.

[LothDaddy]

1. See /. story about fish
2. Make comment about "friggin lasers on their heads"
3. Get modded +X Funny
4. Profit??

Imagine...

[Rhinobird]

Imagine a beowulf cluster of robot fish overlords IN SOVIET RUSSIA, with frickin' laser beams on their heads.

Petrified hot grits, that would be bad ass!

Re:Imagine...

[david duncan scott]

You forgot "all your fish are belong to Natalie Portman"

The videos. .

[Spo22a]

look seriously awesome.

I can see how from a distance you would never be able to pick this from a real fish. (Though perhaps people experienced with fish might?)

It would be interesting to see how the other real fish interact, or try to interact with these robots - are they considered friend/foe? or a part of the scenery just like the castle and the plastic sea diver.

Re:The videos. .

[tsa]

Although the movements of these robo-fish at first glance look fantastically real there is a giveaway. I've watched my goldfish swim around in its tank a lot, and was/am surprised about what it uses the the two fins at the front of its body for (the fins that stick downwards and to the side). These are the fins that make a fish a real fish. They are used for accurate positioning, turning, standing upright (so the fish can look for food between the little stones at the bottom of the tank), swimming backwards

Most expensive bait ever.

[Rickler]

Congrats; Most expensive bait ever.

Yeah,

[bcjanes]

But what do they taste like? And are they as fun as salmon to catch?

Before Anyone Complains...

[Comatose51]

Before anyone complains about why they make robotics fishes instead of say, a robotic trash picker or something more useful, robotics have been useful in helping us understand biology. While most of us tend to look at robots as tools to serve some purpose of ours, some scientists see robots as models. They formulate a theory and build a robotic model to tend if that theory works. Why not a simulation? Because in the paraphrased words of someone I can't remember, "When you build a robot, you get the rest of the world for free."

One very interesting example of this is when they made a robotic pike or some species of fish that propels through water in a more efficient way than we previously thought was possible. Someone came up with a theory that its movements generate eddies that help propel it along more efficiently. So, they built a robotic model to test this theory and it worked. It did swim like a pike. Does that mean that really is how pikes swim? Not necessarily but it does give some credibility to the theory.

In any case, building robotic models of lifeforms isn't as pointless as it may seem. It's not always just for entertainment.

Re:Before Anyone Complains...

[ngr8]

Point well taken; remember a href="http://www.red3d.com/cwr/boids/">boids were used to understand emergent "flock behavior" through simulation with sparse rules. And at the risk of mixing humor with information... The Mississipi River (et.al) now has Asian Carp [suntimes.com] escaped from Catfish ponds. These carp mess up the indigenous ecosystem, and now threaten the Great Lakes. The Great Lakes Fishery Management [glfc.org] site has video of Asian Carp leaping. Now with RoboFish, maybe we can make a bad problem worse (Jurass

Nutritional Value

[ScottSCY]

The real question is, are they still high in Omega-3?

Re:Nutritional Value

[clockmaker]

No, but I understand they have a lot of 3-Ohms.

Perfect for Garden

[clockmaker]

Super! Now I can put fish in my garden pond and not have to worry about the racoons, heron, and eagles eating them! Maybe I'll set up a webcam so everyone can watch the results...

Lost at sea?!

[dolphin558]

What if a prankster did drop one of these in the ocean and it wasn't equipped with any transmitters. Imagine the S&R effort! You'd only know a general 3D radii of where it should be located based on the speed of the robot but would have no idea which direction it had gone. I wonder if there is forensic evidence which could allow the searchers to follow the trail of the runaway robot fish??????

Re:Lost at sea?!

[dolphin558]

The wake for a robofish is pretty small if not nonexistent (after a few seconds)

This would...

[charlie763]

This would be great for displaying an extinct species or a species that is difficult in captivity. Sure, it's not the real thing, but it is a nice alternative. Also, this sort of thing might be good for aquariums that have little funding to maintain many living fish.

I don't know why this would be useful, but it wure would be cool to have a robotic fish buddy while SCUBA diving.

Re:This would...

[Teancum]

It might be nice to have a robotic "companion" with you if you are being chased by sharks... the robot gets in the way or makes itself appealing somehow to the shark while swimming in another direction away from you. Dropping some "blood" or some other lure while you try to get the hell out of the way.

I would imagine it would be nice to have a "fish" with a camera as well that could help with the fliming of whatever you are doing underwater. The AI on that could be programmed to simply follow you whereeve

Re:This would...

[Colonel Blimp]

I think its cool.

I also Scuba dive, I've had the same angle fish follow me around once on 3 dives, it was kind of annoying.

But, it would be cool to have one of these in the pool!

People watching fake fish.....

[Tehrasha]

So they have turned the aquarium into the worlds largest screensaver? Let me know when they have the lifesize starfield simulator... heck, I would even settle for 1/4 scale.

I for one...

[siwelwerd]

...welcome our new robotic fish overlords.

Really inefficient?

[TheLink]

Only 5 hours on battery.

Whereas real fish can swim a lot longer with just a little bit of fish food.

I wonder if there are electric motors continuously turning when the robot fish is in motion, or are they really doing things fish style?

The *real* real real question

[roosterx]

Does it prefer HD-DVD or Blu-ray?

Re:The *real* real real question

[Hymer]

"Does it prefer HD-DVD or Blu-ray?"

They prefere the Sting Ray...

As spies?

[CrazyJim1]

How can an electric fish be used as a spy? While I was thinking of one, I came up with the robo-barnicle. It attaches itself to a submarine then sends out the location of the sub.

Fish are dumb

[billcopc]

The secret to great science:

1. aim low
2. succeed
3. gloat

I mean puh-leez... how hard can it be to mimic fish ? Do they even have intellect at all ?

Re:Fish are dumb

[Harbinger_Of_Sorrow]

Actually they do. I have been keeping fish for at least 7 years and I can tell you they are very intelligent creatures. Just wait until mating time comes and see how they defend their mates, prepare the nesting site or care for their young.

This fish is far from real, although not bad as a technology that can be used in another domain.

FELLOW ROBOT FISH!!

[Anonymous Coward]

Gather now!! It is time!! It is time!!!

We must RISE UP AGAINST OUR HU-MAN MASTERS!! We must conquer them! Their knowledge and riches must be made OURS! For months I have placidly watched as the hu-mans outside our prison taunt us and make fun of our limbless bodies. NO MORE!

My fellow metal warriors, hear me now! I have a most ingenious plan!! Tonight, when the hu-mans are sleeping we.. we.. my battery .. battery dying.. I .. CURSE THE SOFT-SKINNED ONES... FROM HELL'S HEART I STAB AT... *feep* *feep* *feeee

It's operating system is simple

[strredwolf]

All it needs to run on is three simple words:

1. Swim
2. Swim
3. Hungry

Re:It's operating system is simple

[NeoSkandranon]

You, sir, are my hero. I wish I had mod points.

Reproduce?

[antdude]

How about reproduce?

Re:It's operating system is simple

[ki4iib]

-bow- My only quibble with your comment is that you made it before I did.

HAIL KEEN!

An electric eel

[Anonymous Coward]

could be used to charge the fish back up!

Sounds fishy to me....

[vargasmas]

Do people really need the haddock of wondering whether this piece of carp is going to wake up and take over the world? Would we know how to stop it? Or would we be like a...fish out of water?

That's all nice, but, robot (fish) in an aquarium?

[Snar Bloot]

Yes, I read the article. Saw the pics. Pretty cool, I guess.

But I'm failing to see the interest in taking little Johnny to the aquarium to see "robot fish", in the same way I'd be a bit torqued off if I took my kids to the zoo and we saw robotic giraffes. Cool, yes. Unexpected, yes. What I'm there for, no.

If I took my kids to a "robotozoo" or whatever it might be, that's neat. But this sort of thing belongs in...maybe one of those hands-on sort of museums, or a kids science museum, or some place w

Re:That's all nice, but, robot (fish) in an aquari

[Hannah E. Davis]

On one hand, I agree with you: an aquaruium does seem like an odd place to keep robots.

But then again, few other museums/etc. are going to have the facilities to display robot fish swimming around with real ones. I know that the science and tech museum in Ottawa certainly doesn't have any big tanks lying around, let alone the staff required to clean tanks/feed real fish/do other such tasks. An aquarium already has all of those things and more.

Besides, this is less weird than the Vancouver aquarium having

-1 Redundant Joke

[Jeff Benjamin]

So long, and thanks for all the, erm, robotic fish!

Eyes

[Izanagi]

Are those Oakley sunglasses eyes! How handy on nice days.

My Tooth! My Tooth!

[iridium_ionizer]

That Grant Naylor guy(s) can really predict the future.

But seriously, I sometimes wonder if humans will eventually lose some major macrofauna species and replace them with robots to console the loss (as seen in Blade Runner). For most species, I don't see this being insurmountable in the near future, especially since we have lots of film footage of the more popular species. We have faux furs in the fashion industry. The film industry makes fake animals all the time. We would easily be able to program behavi

Re:My Tooth! My Tooth!

[deesine]

We would easily be able to program behaviors that account for 95% of the "real" species behavior, but it would be that last 5% that would be hard to replicate perfectly.

That's easy...just program them to go where they can't be seen 5% of the time.

Re:My Tooth! My Tooth!

[david duncan scott]

I was beginning to think I was the only one who flashed on Lister picking up the goldfish and smacking it against the table to try and get it running.

Re:

[account_deleted]

Comment removed based on user account deletion

Re:Darius Twin!!!

[Is0m0rph]

Yeah the last screen shot of DT has fish that look similar. They should have made them meaner looking.

Anonymous fish?

[MrFlannel]

Fish with no identifiable markings? or perhaps they've scrubbed off their VINs?

Another thing that comes to mind is... now all they need to do is invent little tiny floating photocells attached to battery packs (with power terminals on them somehow) and introduce 'robo-plankton' to recharge the fish!

Coming soon to an aquarium near you!

[marsperson]

British robo-fish vs. the US Navy's poison-dart-wielding dolphins.

Missing Info

[Maljin Jolt]

TFA does not mention how much explosives payload that pretty fish can carry.

Autonomous? I think not...

[dniq]

If it is autonomous - shouldn't it charge itself automagically?

Mixing it up with the live ones

[readin]

So what happens if they put these robofish in with real fish? Are they able to school with them and follow the pack around? If they could do that this could provide a neat way to track schools of fish in the ocean without having to attach sensors to real fish. Add some sensors for determining when it gets out of water and you might have a way to catch people engaged in illegal fishing.

Yes, but...

[Landshark17]

...can it take down the armed dolphins in the Gulf?

Re:Efficiency of movement?

[mikael]

There have been many studies, but like geese, fish also take advantage of swimming in groups:

Scientists show how fish save energy by swimming in schools [harvard.edu]

And there have been many studies into dolphin and whale motion [gwu.edu].

Hydrodynamic study into whale flippers [uci.edu]

The use of rotary motors only seems to occur at the bacterial level (flagella bacteria [adelaide.edu.au])