RoboTuna
The RoboTuna is a robotic fish that was designed and built by a team of scientists at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) in the US. The project started in 1993. Their aim was to investigate the possibility of constructing a robotic submarine that could reproduce the way tunas swim and see if they could find a superior system of propulsion for the autonomous underwater vehicles. Their experiment was a success as they discovered that their fish was both more manoeuvrable and used less energy than other robotic submarines.The Science Museum in London, UK has one on display in their geophysics and oceanography section.[1][2][3][4][5]
While the early results were successful the RoboTuna was not able to replicate the bursts of acceleration that real tuna were able to manage. Researchers tried a genetic algorithm. Early incarnations worked poorly but as the system evolved the RoboTuna's abilities imporved. Visualization techniques showed that the system had evolved so that the RoboTuna was taking advantage of vortices that it created. A swish of its tail one way creating a vortex, which was then used by a swish the other way - off the vortex it had created. This technique not only helps to with normal swimming but explains the impressive standing start speeds of real tuna.[6]
References
- ^ http://www.sciencemuseum.org.uk/objects/oceanography/L2000-4475.aspx The Science Museum
- ^ http://www.robotic-fish.net/index.php?lang=en&id=robots robotic-fish.net
- ^ http://tech.mit.edu/V115/N49/robotuna.49n.html
- ^ http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/science/08/31/robotic.fish.mit/index.html MIT engineers create new school of robotic fish August 31, 2009
- ^ http://www.smithsonianmag.com/science-nature/robofish-abstract.html Douglas Whynott (2000) Something's Fishy about this Robot: When it comes to speed and maneuverability, fish leave man-made submersibles floundering, but RoboTuna and friends may change all that Smithsonian magazine, August
- ^ http://sub-log.com/robotuna_or_how_do_fish_swim_so_fast Sub-log.com:submarines, shipwrecks and undersea exploration Robotuna, or How Do Fish Swim So Fast?