Robot sea bream

Robot sea bream --

Engineers at the University of Kitakyushu have developed an underwater survey robot that looks good enough to eat. “Tai-robot-kun,” a 7-kilogram (15.4 lb) robotic sea bream (red snapper) with a silicone body covered in realistically hand-painted scales, features a unique propulsion system that allows it to move its tail and drift silently through the water like a real fish. (Watch a video.)

The robotic fish can swim for an hour on a full battery charge, and it relies on a ballast system similar to those used in submarines to adjust its buoyancy and depth.

Tai-robot-kun’s creator, professor Ikuo Yamamoto, says the robot can easily be mass-produced, outfitted with various cameras and sensors, and released into the sea to perform a wide range of oceanographic survey tasks. He adds that because the robot swims silently and looks like a real fish, it would be able to gather data without alarming the creatures it encounters.

Yamamoto and his team are also reportedly developing a robotic manta ray that uses some of the same technology.

[Source: Robot Watch]

18 responses to: “Robot sea bream”

  1. […] […]

  2. […] […]

  3. […] out as swimming with robotic fishes will soon be the next attraction at Disneyland. Link via (Pink Tentacle) Sphere: Related […]

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  7. […] Robo-fish! Finally the robo-lobsters and robo-lampreys have a friend! […]

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  9. It’ll be interesting when the fishermen start accidently catching and then selling robot fish in Tsukiji.

    Love the site! How about a link exchange? I’ve linked you already.

  10. […] [Source] […]

  11. Graham

    Does anyone know anything about the music in the video?

  12. […] […]

  13. SeeingI

    The fish is cool and lifelike, for sure. But the fellow in the picture - is that Prof. Yamamoto? - is handsome as can be!

  14. […] rapidly, there is nothing from this nature, that makes me wonder, including this one that I read in http://www.pinktentacle.com. It is about 7-kilogram robotic sea beam with a silicone body covered in realistically hand-painted […]

  15. DEH

    Good Fish… Keep swimming…

  16. […] […]

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  18. […] ideas and inventions and tagged: Japan, robot, sweet… Courtesy of one of my favourite blogs, Pink Tentacle. Engineers at the University of Kitakyushu have developed an underwater survey robot that looks […]

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