Taking cue from the fishes, researchers have developed artificial sensors for underwater vehicles, which can now move freely detecting targets and avoiding collision.
Researchers observed how a fish avoids obstacles and move even in dark water. Inspired by the “lateral lines” in a fish, they developed artificial sensors, which would enable a submarine or a submersible robot move as comfortably as a fish.
Liu and his team developed a lateral line that consists of up to 16 tiny sensors arranged in a row up to a few feet long.
Chang Liu, professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign said,
We are trying to develop a new type of sensor for subs that can detect underwater events, currents and obstacles without conventional sonar and lights.
Liu collaborated with his colleagues at the University of Illinois and Bowling Green State University to come up with the invention.
This is an important step forward, according to Liu because lights are not much effective in murky water, while sonar can disclose the location of a sub even if it doesn’t want to be noticed.
