Russian Researchers Study Movements of Aquatic Creatures to Create Floating Robots

p> Specialists of the Immanuel Kant Baltic Federal University (BFU) and the Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod (UNN) have studied the movement of aquatic organisms and identified the main stages of further development of floating robots. That’s according to the university’s press service. The article describing the work was published in the Physics of Life Reviews journal.

The report says that the scientists considered the main mechanics that fish, salamanders and turtles use for movement in water, and the most effective ways of using these mechanisms by biomorphic robots.

“Conclusively, we formulated the main stages for further development of next-generation biomorphic swimming robots,” the university emphasized.

The paper notes that since the 1990s, researchers have developed many mechanics for robots to reproduce the motions of aquatic organisms, but these models have not been sufficient to cover the full range of motions observed in nature.

“Based on modern computational technologies, artificial intelligence, big data processing, smart materials and electronics, floating robots are able to not only mimic simple locomotion, but also exhibit adaptive motor behavior and decision making — and this is important in the current context of the development of unmanned technologies,” the report said.