Talking Robofish

We know that creatures under water communicate with each other, But now even robots swimming underwater can do that. Kristi Morgansen, the creator of the robofish from the University of Washington made three of its kind, each 20inches long and six pounds in weight. They could eventually monitor the migrations of large mammals and the diffusion of environmental pollutants.

Fishes underwater communicate with each other with the help of lateral line, that runs each side of the body, It also detects various movements and vibratios in the water. Whereas, the robofish communicate by acoustic modem, pinging sound waves with each other. similar to land communications like radio signals. Radio signal travels upto 10ft in freshwater and lesser to that in saltwater. They are also equipped with pressure sensors and 3d compass, powered by nickel-metal hydride rechargeable batteries.

The current trio of robofish are limited to a small test pool at the University of Washington in Seattle and can't be put into the ocean. The next batch of robofish, expected to arrive next year, should venture into the waters of Puget Sound, where the researchers expect they will be able to track anything from large whales to microscopic environmental contaminants. But these robofishes are not fully autonomous

Every 20 minutes or so the next generation robofish would resurface to communicate with home base using a satellite link. At this point they would upload their data to the researchers and download any additional instructions. They could operate for up to six months at a time before returning home or being picked up by researchers in a boat, said Morgansen

James Tangorra, a researcher at Drexel University said "Fish-like propulsion might be more efficient, faster, and silent, allowing us to operate next to animals,"