Students at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology (ETH) in Zürich recently rolled out a highly maneuverable aquatic robot that they claim is the "only four finned cuttlefish robot in the world." And while that may seem like a pretty strange thing to boast, the cuttlefish is an incredible animal, and has been inspiring the technological world for some time.
Appearance wise, the cuttlefish is a stunning creature to observe - that is, if you even notice it. A master of disguise, this tiny, squid-like mollusk can not only change the color of its skin to match its surroundings, but the texture of that skin as well. New research has indicated that the eight-armed animal may not even know it is practicing this camouflage. "Sensors" on the underside of its body seem to activate and go to work copying their surroundings whenever the cuttlefish positions itself to hunt or hide from danger.
It also boasts a unique internal porous shell, called the cuttlebone, that maintains excellent buoyancy by regulating a gas-to-liquid ratio within its many chambers. This is essential in helping the creature swim, allowing it to move forward and back, up and down with nothing more than a simple skirt-like undulating fin.
This silent and amazingly efficient omnidirectional means of swimming is what inspired the ETH team's latest robot, called Sepios, which boasts four of these undulating fins for incredible maneuverability.
All four fins move in tandem in order to turn the craft in any direction at the drop of a hat. You can watch a video of last year's live field test, when the craft proved its mettle in the sea of France. It not only moved with precision and ease, but also swam through long sea grasses that would trip up other aquatic robots.
[Credit: Sepios / ETH Zürich]
But what's the point of this project? The Sepios team hopes that one day smaller versions of their robot will be everywhere, quietly gliding along in the ocean and helping researchers observe undersea life without the whir of propellers or flicking fins that could disturb the very conditions that they're trying to investigate.
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