Some 400 kilometers (250 miles) from the nearest sea, engineering students at Switzerland’s ETH Zurich are hard at work on cutting-edge robots that may change the way the world’s oceans are studied, reports CNN.
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“Eve” the robotic fish swings its silicone tail side to side, powered by pumps hidden inside, as it glides fluidly through Lake Zurich’s chilly water, where it is being tested by SURF-eDNA. The student-led group has spent the past two years building a school of soft robotic fish – of which Eve is the latest.
Eve’s ability to camouflage itself as a fish isn’t its only utility. The autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is also equipped with a camera to film underwater, and sonar, which when paired with an algorithm, allows it to avoid obstacles.
The AUV also features a filter to collect DNA from the environment, known as “eDNA,” as it swims. The eDNA particles can be sent to a laboratory for sequencing to determine what species live in the body of water.
Tools like AUVs and remotely operated vehicles are increasingly being used to explore the ocean and learn more about underwater habitats. California-founded startup Aquaai, for example, has developed drones resembling clownfish, that can collect information like oxygen, salinity and pH levels in waterways; and last year, a rover captured the deepest-ever filmed fish at a depth of 8,300 meters (27,350 feet).
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More advanced tools that can study environments in more detail could be vital for better protecting Earth’s oceans, at a time when ocean habitats are facing unprecedented threats from climate change, overfishing and other human activity.
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Source: CNN
