This Underwater Drone Swims Like A Ray, And Fools Even Real Fish
Developed by Pliant Energy, Velox is a robot that looks a lot like a stingray and it should because its design is inspired by the beautiful sea creature. However, the engineers have also adopted the fins to mimic movement from other living creatures on our planet.
Robots today are getting more dynamic every day, and engineers are trying to make them feel more organic while having several applications. However, this robot surely takes this to a whole new level.
Developed by Pliant Energy, Velox is a robot that looks a lot like a stingray and it should because its design is inspired by the beautiful sea creature. However, the engineers have also adopted the fins to mimic movement from other living creatures on our planet.
Getty Images/ Pliant Energy
The articulating fins on the robot are surely the star of the entire setup that allows the Velox to not just swim, but also crawl like a millipede, jet through the water like a squid and even glide like a snake.
When you first look at Velox, it looks like a hybrid version of a stingray -- something that will definitely make you freak out if you were to see it while swimming on the beach. The matte-black exterior does look scary and cool at the same time.
Even when Velox moves, it looks so organic that people won¡¯t recognise it as a robot when they look at it for the first time, and that¡¯s the idea behind Velox.
The universal terrain nature of Velox also allows it to go across obstructions like seaweed, ice, sand, rocks etc with ease and without them hampering its movement.
Now you might be wondering what a cool drone to aid the navy and security forces -- and sure, it can do all that, but it wasn¡¯t really designed for doing this.
It was designed to actually just sit in a river in New York and generate electricity. How, you ask? The answer is in the undulating fins. With the water naturally flowing through the curves of the fins, the robot absorbs the movements and translates that into energy -- and that¡¯s what Velox was essentially going to be.
Pliant Energy
Even as a surveillance robot, if Velox¡¯s batteries die, it can just be in the sea for a while till it recharges and then it can proceed further. How cool is that?
They currently have funding from Office of Naval Research, National Science Foundation and several others.
Even though the drone is controlled using a remote, Pliant Energy is working to make it autonomous in the near future. Keep reading Indiatimes.com for the latest science and technology news.
