LONDON (Reuters) - Robot “fish” developed by scientists to improve pollution monitoring moved from the lab to the sea in a test at the northern Spanish port of Gijon on Tuesday.
The developers hope the new technology, which reduces the time it takes to detect a pollutant from weeks to seconds, will sell to port authorities, water companies, aquariums and anyone with an interest in monitoring water quality. It could also have spin-offs for cleaning up oil spills, underwater security, diver monitoring or search and rescue at sea, they said. The fish, which are 5 feet long and currently cost $31,600 each, are designed to swim like real fish and are fitted with sensors to pick up pollutants leaking from ships or undersea pipelines.