Caltech researchers have developed biohybrid robotic jellyfish, or devices that have been augmented electronics to further enhance their swimming as well as a prosthetic “hat”. The latter is used to transport a small payload while also making the jellyfish swim in a more streamlined manner.
The 3D-printed forebodies are essentially used to streamline the bell of the jellyfish robot, thus reducing drag, and increasing swimming performance. When combined with a swimming pacemaker, these robotic jellyfish were recorded swimming up to 4.5 times faster than an all-natural jelly while carrying a payload. Even more impressive is that it only costs $20 to make each jellyfish.
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In the ocean, the round trip from the surface down to several thousand meters will take a few days for the jellyfish, so we wanted to develop a facility to study that process in the lab. Our vertical tank lets the animals swim against a flowing vertical current, like a treadmill for swimmers. We expect the unique scale of the facility—probably the first vertical water treadmill of its kind—to be useful for a variety of other basic and applied research questions,” said John Dabiri, Centennial Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering at Caltech.
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