The London Aquarium now has three robot fish swimming in a tank.

Designed and made by a team led by Professor Huosheng Hu of the University of Essex, the fish are autonomous.

“They move forward and if they find an obstacle, they turn. They have several behaviours depending on the situation,” said Hu’s colleague Dr Dongbing Gu.

Inside is a microprocessor analysing data from infra-red and pressure sensors, amongst others. This controls a number of motors including those that drive the tail’s three joints.

See one in action at: cswww.essex.ac.uk/staff/hhu/video/G8swim2005Aug.avi