Spotted by webmaster Paul: three robot fish, created by
robotics experts from Essex University can be found at London Aquarium.
They move around the tank like real fish, and have sensor-based
controls, so they can move around the tank, avoiding objects and other
fish, and reacting to their environment as a real fish would. Professor
Huosheng Hu, of the university’s computer science department, said the
aim of creating the fish and having them on display in a public place
was to increase awareness about robots’ capabilities. He said the
robotic fish, which took three years to create, could also be used in
the ocean such as including seabed exploration, detecting leaks in oil
pipelines, mine countermeasures, and improving the performance of
underwater vehicles.