Chinese Scientists Say Robot Fish Can Devour Ocean Plastics

Chinese scientists say they have invented a robot fish they hope can help rid the oceans of #microplastics, according to a report.

The devices can absorb the plastics, microscopic remnants of bottles, bags, straws, paint, and even tires, that threaten the #ecosystem. The plastics, smaller than a grain of rice, are now found in all species of fish and have worked their way up the food chain to humans.

“It is of great significance to develop a robot to accurately collect and sample detrimental microplastic pollutants from the aquatic environment,” Yuyan Wang, a researcher at the Polymer Research Institute of Sichuan University and one of the lead authors on the study, told The Guardian. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of such soft #robots.”
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In a bid to help reduce the pollution caused by plastics in oceans. Scientists unveiled bionic robo-fish capable of hunting microplastics from the ocean surface.
[WION]
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Researchers at Sichuan University have revealed an innovative solution to track down these pollutants when it comes to water contamination: designing a tiny self-propelled robo-fish that can swim around, latch on to free-floating microplastics, and fix itself if it gets cut or damaged while on its expedition.

The #robofish is just 13mm long, and thanks to a light laser system in its tail, swims and flaps around at almost 30mm a second, similar to the speed at which plankton drift around in moving water.

The robo-fish that is stretchy, flexible to twist, and even able to pull up to 5kg in weight, according to the study. Most importantly, the bionic fish can adsorb nearby free-floating bits of microplastics because the organic dyes, #antibiotics , and heavy metals in the microplastics have strong chemical bonds and electrostatic interactions with the fish’s materials.