The US Navy is testing its latest robot, the GhostSwimmer. It’s a drone designed to look and swim like a real fish although it looks more like a baby shark. It’s five feet long and almost 100 pounds. Wired reports, the GhostSwimmer can operate in water “as shallow as 10 inches or dive down to 300 feet. It can be controlled remotely via a 500-foot tether, or swim independently.”
The Navy isn’t the only one developing animal-based robots. The Department of Homeland Security has been testing its battery-powered BIOSwimmer prototype, which is designed to look like a tuna. (They have BIOSwimmer trademarked, btw.) Okay so Homeland Security isn’t really designing it – the agency hired Boston Engineering Corporations’s Advanced Systems Group (ASG) in Waltham, Mass.
The BIOSwimmer, photo: Jane Baker, DHS S&T / Boston Engineering Corp.
