The United States Navy just introduces an underwater drone which is a spy drone that was designed to look and swim like a fish. The robot is called GhostSwimmer and it is part of the Silent NEMO project.
A look at the special robot
This robot is the same size as albacore tuna with measurements of five feet in length. It also weighs 100 pounds. The fish robot can be controlled with a laptop. It is able to move through water like an actual fish. The navy is focused on creating drones that mimic real sea creatures so it can carry out missions remaining undetected.
Project lead Jerry Lademan, who also happend to work on the machine at Joint Expeditionary Base Little Creek-Fort Story explained, “This is an attempt to take thousands of years of evolution- what has been perfected since the dawn of time- and try to incorporate that into a mechanical device.”
The Navy’s goal
Captain Jim Loper added, “This is an attempt to take thousands of years of evolution- what has been perfected since the dawn of time- and try to incorporate that into a mechanical device. The fusion of the deckplate brainpower with support of the most senior leadership in the Navy is going to keep us moving forward through the 21st century.” Loper is the department head of Concepts and Innovation at Navy Warfare Development Command.
Ghost Swimmer is not the first robot desined to mimic natural animal behaviors. One previous creation was dubbed Cheetah and it can run up to 30 miles per hour. Then there is the iSprawl, which is a cockroach-inspired machine which covers 7.5 feet in one second. There is also the Stickybot which mimics a gecko lizard’s climbing abilities.
The U..S Department of Homeland Security is currently funding development for BioSwimmer which will be similar to Ghost Swimmer, only in a smaller size.
