You Will Soon Be Watched Underwater by a Robotic Tuna

Nivair H. Gabriel — Sun, 23 Nov 2008 10:00:00 PST

When you think of autonomous, unmanned spy vehicles, you probably imagine the telltale shape of a small aircraft overhead, and the suspicious sound of whirring propellers. Spy vehicles, however, aren't just for the sky anymore. The U.S. Navy has funded the development of an autonomous, unmanned vehicle shaped like a fish and capable of covering up to three times the distance of a typical UAV using the same battery. It's called GhostSwimmer, and it'll be entering our waters in 2009.

Researchers at Boston Engineering and at the Franklin W. Olin College of Engineering created GhostSwimmer, which a refined version of an initial MIT prototype called RoboTuna. Since the tuna is one of the fastest fish in the oceans, the RoboTuna team reasoned, a robot that could mimic its movements would be an ideal underwater vehicle. RoboTuna — and, by extension, GhostSwimmer — resulted from an extensive study of the hydrodynamics of tuna motion and an intricate mimic design. GhostSwimmer swims by manipulating its dorsal (back), pectoral (chest), and caudal (tail) fins; like its biological namesake, it can reach up to 70 kilometers per hour.

This speed caught the eye of the Navy, who want to use GhostSwimmer as both a spy vehicle and a prototype for a future class of fuel-efficient submarines. After a few more years, we might have an entire school of robotic fish confusing the hell out of the rest of the ocean.

A fin-tuned design [via Economist]
MIT RoboTuna home page

This Lizard Drinks Through Its Foot, and Soon You Will Too

Annalee Newitz — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 07:00:23 PDT

This mind-bendingly cute thorny devil lizard is one of the most sought-after creatures in the engineering world because it has a special talent: drinking through its foot. Using cracks in its scales, this little guy can wick water up through its foot into its body. Materials scientists hope that by studying how the lizard does this, they can invent substances that absorb water in a similar fashion. And bioengineers might go further.

Genetic engineers could create a way for humans to absorb water through their skin, so we could drink fog. That would be a more efficient way to use the water available on Earth.

National Geographic has a terrific photo feature on "biomemetics" which includes this lizard, as well as several other life forms whose features engineers hope to emulate.

This magnified image of a sharkskin reveals why sharks can move so quickly through the water. Their skin is made of interlaced scales that channel water rapidly, allowing them to move much more quickly than they would if their skin had a different texture. Scientists want to recreate sharkskin in materials that would allow seaborne ships or people to move rapidly through water.

Sign me up for gills, sharkskin, and foot drinking. I mean, if it's reversible. Top photo by Robert Clark/National Geographic and bottom photo by Eye of Science/Photo Researchers.

Biomimetics [National Geographic] (Thanks, Marilyn!)

io9: biomimetics

You Will Soon Be Watched Underwater by a Robotic Tuna

This Lizard Drinks Through Its Foot, and Soon You Will Too