Keep an eye out, big squids and angling: There may be a new, artificial addition to the Earth’s deep ecosystems.
A research team led by scientists from Zhejiang University in eastern China has designed a fish-like robot with a flexible body to study the maximum depth of the ocean. The battery-powered robot was tested in November last year in the Mariana Trench – which stretches nearly 11,000 meters below sea level – where it crashed for about 45 minutes without fail. damaged by extreme cold and extreme pressure.
Details of the yet-to-be-named robot, including its research potential, were published in the scientific journal Nature Wednesday.
“It wasn’t so long ago that we found fish in the deep ocean, so soft submersibles for studying the depths of the sea are truly scientific frontiers,” said Zhou Haofei, co-author of the study and professor of mechanics engineering at Zhejiang University, told Sixth Ton.
Each robot has two wing-like wings on either side of its body, like a manta ray, and is about the size of about two hands. The electronic components are embedded in soft, silicone-based materials, meaning the machine is capable of pushing through tight spaces, Zhou said.
GIF shows front and top views of a research team-like robot for deep-sea analysis. Courtesy of Zhejiang University
The team released a similar robot fish in the South China Sea at a depth of more than 3,200 meters to test its ability to perform exploration-related tasks. The robot flew, flapping its wings, and disappeared into the darkness.
Unfortunately, the team was unable to recover the device as they did not have an navigation system.
For years, submersibles have had hardened metal shells that have been placed to the depths of the ocean to protect the electronic parts inside from freezing temperatures and tensile pressures.
Previously, soft robots like the one unveiled on Wednesday – modeled after the snail, which can be found anywhere between the ocean’s surface and 8,000 meters – have only been used in shallow waters, said Zhou. If proven to be effective, he said, their lower cost means scientists could design whole schools out of them, able to work together to fulfill orders.
“The ocean is so big, it is impossible to rely on one robot to explore everything,” Zhou said. “There is a lot of room for improvement, such as adding communication functions so that the robot can provide the data it collects. ”
Editor: Bibek Bhandari.
(Header image: Research team robot model (left) next to an image of the deep-sea snails he inspired. Courtesy of Zhejiang University)