What happens when you blend the skills of a zoologist with those of a computer engineer? You get a robotic fish built to measure aquatic conditions.
Ziaobo Tan, an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at Michigan State University (MSU), and Elena Litchman, assistant professor of zoology based at MSU’s Kellogg Biological Station in Kalamazoo County, have landed a National Science Foundation grant to integrate their research, based on Tan’s earlier work on robots and Litchman’s work on algae.
The robotic fish will carry sensors recording such things as temperature, dissolved oxygen, pollutants and harmful algae.
“The patrolling fish will be able to obtain information at an unprecedentedly high spatial and temporal resolution,” Litchman says.
She had been working on algal blooms, some of which can be toxic, and hopes the robotic fish’s sensors will be able to show increased growth of harmful algae.
“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,” Litchman says.
The fish are being designed to be inexpensive so they can be used in various applications like sampling lakes, monitoring aquafarms and safeguarding water reservoirs.
The robots will communicate wirelessly with a docking station after surfacing at programmed intervals, and could similarly be linked to other robotic fish for coordinated maneuvers or signal relay. Global positioning system technology and inertial measurement units will allow precise navigation.
Source: MSU
Gretchen Cochran, Innovation & Jobs editor, may be reached here.
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