Michigan State University (MSU) has unveiled a newly updated Robofish
they have designed and built, which has the ability to glide through
water practically indefinitely. The Robofish has been created by
Xiaobo Tan, MSU associate professor of electrical and computer
engineering, and uses little to no energy, while its gathers information
about the pollution in the water its swimming through. Robofish
is equipped with an array of sensors measure water temperature, quality
and other pertinent facts, in the latest update its creators have also
renamed it calling the creation Grace, stands for "Gliding Robot ACE.”.
Xiaobo Tan explains a little more about his creation: "Swimming
requires constant flapping of the tail,” Tan said, "which means the
battery is constantly being discharged and typically wouldn’t last more
than a few hours.”- "This is why we integrated both locomotion modes –
gliding and swimming – in our robot,” – "Such integration also allows
the robot to adapt to different environments, from shallow streams to
deep lakes, from calm ponds to rivers, with rapid currents.” For more information on the new Robofish design jump over to the Michigan State University (MSU) website for details |