Pollution-hunting robot fish take to the sea
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E-mail China.org.cn, May 23, 2012
Robot "fish" developed by European scientists to improve pollution monitoring moved from the lab to the sea in a test at the northern Spanish port of Gijon on Tuesday, Reuters reported.
![The robotic fish, a state-of-the-art pollution monitoring system. [Agencies]](http://images.china.cn/attachement/jpg/site1007/20120523/0014222d98501126cd7a4a.jpg "The robotic fish, a state-of-the-art pollution monitoring system. [Agencies]") |
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The robotic fish, a state-of-the-art pollution monitoring system. [Agencies] |
The fish could detect a pollutant in seconds, and could also have spin-offs for cleaning up oil spills, underwater security, diver monitoring or search and rescue at sea.
The fish are 1.5 meters long and cost $31,600 each. They swim independently, co-ordinate with each other, and transmit their readings back to a shore station up to a kilometer away.
The fish can avoid obstacles, map where they are and know how to return to base when their eight-hour battery life is running low, their makers say.
