This marvelous coelacanth robot was handcrafted by Masamichi Hayashi, president of marine education establishment kyg-lab. My title for this article was meant to rekindle some of the excitement everyone felt when living coelacanths were discovered; paleontologists had believed them to be extinct since the end of the Cretaceous period.
(Coelacanth robot by Masamichi Hayashi video)
Hayashi is a self-taught roboticist; he has built over 100 robotic marine creatures from recycled items such as plastic bottles, food containers, styrofoam, raincoats, and windshield wiper motors. His experience as a marine scientist has obviously served him well, as the remarkable realism demonstrated in the video shows.
Regular technovelgy readers know about my favorite science-fictional robotic fish, the Mitsubishi robot turbot from Michael Swanwick's 2002 story Slow Life.
I like real-life robotic fish stories; perhaps you'll like one of these:
Technovelgy (that's tech-novel-gee!)
is devoted to the creative science inventions and ideas of sf authors. Look for
the Invention Category that interests
you, the Glossary, the Invention
Timeline, or see what's New.
Illustrating Classic Heinlein With AI
'Stasis, cold sleep, hibernation, hypothermia, reduced metabolism, call it what you will - the logistics-medicine research teams had found a way to stack people like cordwood and use them when needed.'
Deflector Plasma Screen For Drones ala Star Wars
'If the enemy persists in attacking or even intensifies their power, the density of the plasma in space will suddenly increase, causing it to reflect most of the incoming energy like a mirror.'