Are Fish Robots Going to Save the Oceans?

The fight against pollution seems never-ending. Thankfully, researchers at Sichuan University created a robo-fish as a way to help in the mission of cleaning our oceans. This robot is programmed to remove microplastics by swimming around and adsorbing them. In this slogging thread, our community discusses how feasible is this invention and its benefits.

This Slogging thread by Sara Pinto, Mónica Freitas, Arthur Tkachenko and Jack Boreham occurred in slogging's official #random channel, and has been edited for readability.

Sara PintoJun 27, 2022, 8:03 AM

Are fish-shaped robots going to help save the oceans?

https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/22/scientists-unveil-bionic-robo-fish-to-remove-microplastics-from-seas

Sara PintoJun 27, 2022, 8:03 AM

"Scientists have designed a tiny robot-fish that is programmed to remove microplastics from seas and oceans by swimming around and adsorbing them on its soft, flexible, self-healing body."

Sara PintoJun 27, 2022, 8:04 AM

"Microplastics are the billions of tiny plastic particles which fragment from the bigger plastic things used every day such as water bottles, car tyres and synthetic T-shirts. They are one of the 21st century’s biggest environmental problems because once they are dispersed into the environment through the breakdown of larger plastics they are very hard to get rid of, making their way into drinking water, produce, and food, harming the environment and animal and human health."

Sara PintoJun 27, 2022, 8:04 AM

"Researchers at Sichuan University have revealed an innovative solution to track down these pollutants when it comes to water contamination: designing a tiny self-propelled robo-fish that can swim around, latch on to free-floating microplastics, and fix itself if it gets cut or damaged while on its expedition.

The robo-fish is just 13mm long, and thanks to a light laser system in its tail, swims and flaps around at almost 30mm a second, similar to the speed at which plankton drift around in moving water."

Sara PintoJun 27, 2022, 8:06 AM

Mónica Freitas Jack Boreham Limarc Ambalina Arthur Tkachenko what are your thoughts on this robo-fish? How successful do you think this will be?

Mónica FreitasJun 28, 2022, 2:22 PM

Sara Pinto, first of all, this is incredible - long overdue. I'm not sure how the fish will be able to self-repair or how long it'll last being so small, but this seems a fantastic initiative. I'm curious about what would happen if other fish ate these robots.

Arthur TkachenkoJun 29, 2022, 5:00 AM

Well, I love robots! Hopefully, after the war, I'll be able to participate in some projects related to robotization.
I don't think that robofish will save us from plastic. I mean, as most laziest animals on Earth, we'll find a way to cheat and be able to pollute Earth.

I think it will only work with huge mass production. And it's not a place where revenue is growing. Maybe if a robot fish can eat plastic and then use it to produce the new smallest robo-fishes - it might work somehow.

I was watching like 10 presentations about Ocean Cleanup and I like their idea to attack this problem on a scale. One of the ways is to suck most of the plastics from rivers that are the dirtiest ones.
And if we combine two visions:

it might work even better.

First of all - it's better to catch plastic bottles and spoons before they became microplastic particles because it's easier to spot one item.
And rivers are smaller than seas or oceans.
And you actually can use bigger robots, similar to roboDog from Boston Dynamics. And while big bots need more energy, you can actually use a long wire, so your robot stays connected to the grid.
your robot even doesn't need to be a good swimmer - you can find places where usually plastics or garbage floating, and pick that stuff away(this place can be even cleaned up and have a setup with some electricity)

Imagine that: some small river has 10 spots where there is a natural dam formed. And we put a solar panel + accumulator for each spot. And each week a ranger goes to that place, connecting a RoboDuck with a hand, to that energy storage and just waits with a bag. RoboDuck just floating and picking stuff away.

Sara PintoJul 4, 2022, 12:42 PM

Mónica Freitas, I thought the same thing haha, I hope it has a defense mechanism 😂

Sara PintoJul 4, 2022, 12:49 PM

Mónica Freitas, it's amazing, especially since there's like an island of trash just floating around in the Pacific Ocean (https://education.nationalgeographic.org/resource/great-pacific-garbage-patch). I'm just wondering how long and how many of these robot fishes it will take to improve the situation. Plus, even if they only act on small piles in other locations, like rivers or lakes, it's already a good start!

Sara PintoJul 4, 2022, 1:22 PM

Well, they may not save the oceans on their own, but I believe it's a way to control some of the damage we create (even though I agree that we always find a way to continue messing up).
About the revenue, that's a good point. Plus, if the point is to help reduce the world's waste, it's not very environmentally friendly to mass-produce tiny robots. Maybe the way to go is, as you said, to be able to create other robot fishes from that same plastic that they "ate".

Sara PintoJul 4, 2022, 1:22 PM

It's better to start small, see how it goes, and avoid waste in general, of course. The bigger robot might be a good idea after testing these

Mónica FreitasJul 4, 2022, 4:21 PM

Sara Pinto, maybe they have laser beams in their eyes 😂

Mónica FreitasJul 4, 2022, 4:26 PM

Sara Pinto, I'd love to watch a demo of how this technology will work and see it with my own two eyes. Theoretically, I can understand how the robots will latch onto plastic. But what then? Will they disintegrate the plastic? Serve as a GPS tracker for plastic? I have questions!

Sara PintoJul 6, 2022, 1:02 PM

Mónica Freitas, I'm not sure if we have an answer for that yet haha, but I'm with you about the demo. I'd like to know if they have a date for its implementation

Mónica FreitasJul 6, 2022, 2:58 PM

Sara Pinto, if they had an online demo, a lot of people would be interested in checking it out, even academic departments. You've probably already said it somewhere in this thread, but what's the name of the company/university doing these robots?

Sara PintoJul 11, 2022, 2:34 PM

Mónica Freitas, this study is led by researchers at Sichuan University. In the article, we get a quote from one of them, Yuyan Wang

Mónica FreitasJul 13, 2022, 6:45 PM

Sara Pinto, interesting! I found this article about the same initiative: https://www.reuters.com/lifestyle/science/chinese-scientists-develop-robot-fish-that-gobble-up-microplastics-2022-07-12/
Seems to have a bit more information on what the robot will do

Jack BorehamJul 14, 2022, 9:48 AM

That would make a great movie. ROBO FISH!!

Jack BorehamJul 14, 2022, 9:49 AM

Move over robocop

Sara PintoJul 21, 2022, 4:29 PM

Jack Boreham, please start writing the script 😂