Jan 28 2011
Scientists at Northwestern University are working on developing Robotic Ghost Knifefish, a robot fish to enable them to easily understand navigation and sensory systems. The outcomes of this study will be used for developing new technologies.
The fourth generation robot Robotic Ghost Knifefish features 32 fin rays which are controlled autonomously. It can swim in natural water habitats like the Amazon. It can sense and swim in all directions, neglecting faint electric field. Since all movements of the fish are precisely recorded, replay is also possible. This feature was not available in the previous versions.
It was reported that this technology can be applied to enable the development of vehicles moving with higher dexterity. For instance, ROVs often collided into the oil head during the investigation of the BP oil spill issue, halting the entire operation.
Source: http://www.northwestern.edu