Robotic Fish Can Swim, Maneuver, and Monitor Water Quality

Monday, November 02 2009

Michigan State University researchers are developing robots that use advanced materials to swim like fish and gather precise data on aquatic conditions. The robotic fish will carry sensors recording things like temperature, dissolved oxygen, pollutants, and harmful algae.

“Fish are very efficient,” explained Xiaobo Tan, an assistant professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering. “They can perform very efficient locomotion and maneuvering in the water.”

Tan is developing electronics so the devices can navigate and communicate in their watery environment. The team is designing the fish to be inexpensive so they can be used in various applications like sampling lakes, monitoring aquafarms, and safeguarding water reservoirs.

“With these patrolling fish we will be able to obtain information at an unprecedentedly high spatial and temporal resolution,” said Elena Litchman, an assistant professor of Zoology. Such data are essential for researchers to have a more complete picture of what is happening under the surface as climate change and other outside forces disrupt the freshwater ecosystems. It will bring environmental monitoring to a whole new level.”