Ghost Knifefish in the Machine

This article focuses on different research and development tasks intended towards creation of agile swimming robot. Armed with extraordinary agility and electrical sensors that show the location of insect larvae, the black ghost knifefish haunts at night. An underwater robot based on the ghost knifefish could work in the murkiest waters. Malcolm MacIver, a professor of mechanical engineering and neurobiology at North-western University, is building a prototype of such an agile ROV in his laboratory. Active electrosense could do more for ROVs and robots, MacIver said. It may soon be able to distinguish living organisms, including divers, from inanimate objects by sensing capacitance – the ability of a material to induce a phase lag between voltage and current – MacIver reported in 2012 at the International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems. Down the road, the bioroboticists hope to incorporate another ant navigational skill into a robot – a neat ability to detect polarized sunlight and use it to determine compass direction.