🐋🌊 In a groundbreaking fusion of space and sea, a Shenyang-based company has unveiled the world's first intelligent robotic whale shark! This isn't just any underwater gadget—it's a nearly five-meter-long, 350-kilogram marvel that swims, turns, dives, and even moves its mouth just like the real deal. 🤖💙
Developed by Shenyang Aerospace Xinguang Group under the Third Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation Limited, this bionic beast is making waves in modern marine technology. Gao Chao, one of the genius designers behind it, shared, \"This is the largest bionic fish we have studied so far. The whale shark has seven actuated joints, and each joint requires computing, communication, and sensing, which is also our key technology.\" 🛠️🚀
But what makes this robotic whale shark so fin-tastic? For starters, it's equipped with wireless remote control, programmed swimming, and multi-joint bionic propulsion, allowing it to glide through the water at speeds up to 0.7 meters per second and dive to depths of 20 meters. With optical cameras, sensors, sonar, and the BeiDou positioning system on board, it's ready for action—whether that's monitoring water quality, mapping underwater terrains, or embarking on special missions. 📡🌐
Fang Xuelin, assistant director at the Underwater Propulsion Technology Research Office, highlighted the tech challenges they overcame: \"When this robot performs underwater tasks, it encounters various obstacles. How to fuse information obtained by multiple sensors is actually a technical difficulty… A mass of data must be screened and extracted synchronously… before the truly effective data can be quickly extracted for our bionic whale shark to identify the surrounding environment.\" 🧠💾
Unlike traditional propeller-driven robots, this bionic wonder's enclosed design prevents water pollution and its streamlined body minimizes entanglement with aquatic obstacles, reducing harm to marine life. Talk about eco-friendly innovation! 🌱🌍
And they're not stopping there! The company is expanding its bionic family to include Yangtze finless porpoises, killer whales, and dolphins. By blending marine bionic tech with intelligent systems, they're pushing the boundaries of underwater robotics. 🐬🤩
As we dive deeper into the ocean's mysteries, robots like this whale shark are set to be our trusty sidekicks. With advances in materials science, control systems, and AI, marine exploration and research are getting a serious upgrade. Who knows what we'll discover next? 🌊🔭
Reference(s):
cgtn.com
