Imagine, swimming in the vastness and tranquility of the sea with nothing in mind but you, the water and the beautiful horizon. Suddenly, you see something odd in the water. You don’t know what it is. It doesn’t look like a shark. Nor does it look like a harmless turtle. Then you realize that it’s a jellyfish. What would you do?
Well, it would be good for you if that jellyfish is the one that is being dubbed as the Robojelly. This contraption that was created by researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas and Virginia Tech, is one of the most impressive robots out there today. It moves like a jellyfish and expands and contacts its synthetic muscles to pump out the water.
This device is powered by itself. It converts the hydrogen and oxygen found in water into heat. The researchers who created Robojelly designed it to swim around indefinitely in the ocean to act as surveillance for the military or to monitor the ocean for pollutants.
According to Dr. Yonas Tadesse, assistant professor of mechanical engineering at UT Dallas, “We’ve created an underwater robot that doesn’t need batteries or electricity. The only waste released as it travels is more water.”
Now, if they can only recreate a shark. That would be impressive.
Image source: topsecretwriters.com
