The Robotic Manta Ray codenamed MantaBot created by the Bio-Inspired Engineering Research Laboratory (BIER Lab) is set to make a splash. The next evolution in underwater Robotics is here. We have seen the likes of robotic fish and Jelly fish now to be added to the school is the MantaBot which has been designed to mimic the unique swimming motion of the Manta Ray,
This biologically inspired under water robot’s has been designed with a primary goal to be autonomous using its onboard electronics to make its own decisions to navigate its watery domain. BIER Lab has received major funding from the Department of Defense (DoD) Multi-disciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI) program. Part of its goal in the long run is to reverse engineer the biological systems of such creatures to the point of creating simulated artificial skin and muscle.
[Via dvice.com]
Bier = beer in german :D
And in Dutch!
Looks more like a cownose ray to me, but thats just being picky.
If the manta ray thing doesn’t work out, they could try mako sharks next.
That’s cool as hell. I think a more biologically based approach could eventually solve a lot of the durability, versatility, and power consumption problems that hold back (non industrial, low precision) robots. At the very least it’ll do huge things to prosthetics.
while this is cool….I cant help but be reminded of cooler manta projects…
2007 Festo Bionic Learning Network projects
http://vimeo.com/1954082
http://vimeo.com/1954075
http://www.festo.com/cms/en_corp/9652.htm
Hasn’t anyone seen the autonomous sharks? Admittedly the battery life isn’t the best, but they look pretty real from 3′ away and can dive quite deep. It’s basically silicone/??? over foam, with a wood (I think it’s some cartilage thing now) frame and servo cables.
I guess a manta ray looks cooler, but really, a shark body shape makes a great platform for all sorts of interesting hobby projects.
Rays have pretty tough skins – check one out at a leather store sometime.