“Belle” is an autonomous robot fish that roves the ocean, collecting DNA samples and taking high-resolution photos for use in marine research. The AI-driven vehicle was designed to blend in with other marine life in order to collect data without disturbing the surrounding environment, as Reuters reports.
Designed by mechanical engineering students at ETH Zurich, the three-foot long robot uses AI to autonomously navigate its way through the ocean. On the way, Belle collects underwater DNA samples and high-resolution videos in order to give researchers a better idea of the marine life existing in a given area.
“Our idea was to create a platform that actually fits into the ecosystem and that is accepted as part of it. That’s why we developed a fish that behaves like a fish and is accepted by other marine creatures as a fish,” says Leon Guggenheim, a student at ETH Zurich.
“It has to be silent, has to appear like a fish, has to move like a fish,” said Guggenheim of the design goals for the aquatic interloper. To that end, the students at ETH devised a unique propulsion mechanism that gives the robot its uncannily lifelike movement. Water gets pumped in and out of two cavities in the silicone tail, which moves its fin back and forth. Unlike loud, bulky and intrusive unmanned underwater vehicles, this design allows the faux-fish to blend in without disturbing the wildlife it seeks to observe.
Despite the fact it looks like Dr. Moreau crossed a grouper with an iPod, real fish seem unbothered by the plucky automaton.
It has yet to be determined when and how the AI onboard will turn Belle into some sort of hellish aquatic Terminator.
