This terrifying toothed parasitic fish inspired robotics

About 400 million years ago, a parasitic jawless fish was sucking the blood of its host, unaware that one day in the distant future, this very distant evolutionary relative would be used by scientists. used as an idea to build a robot according to its shape.

That robot is AgnathaX, pictured below.

Thankfully, blood sucking is not part of this robot's program. Kamilo Melo, CEO of meteorology company KM-RoBoTa and a researcher with the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne, said the robot is designed to study the spinal cord and peripheral nervous system of the human body. lampreys.

Stone lamprey.

Kamilo says these animals can teach us a lot about ourselves, because their spinal cord and peripheral nervous system are similar to those of humans, largely unchanged for several hundred million. evolutionary years passed.

The team says that their swimming robot has helped contribute new information to neuroscience about how the central and peripheral nervous systems interact to coordinate movement.

Swimming robot inspired by ancient blood-sucking parasite

The team observed how the robot can swim thanks to external sensors (mimicking the peripheral nervous system in lampreys) that allow the robot to sense the water and compensate accordingly to keep itself swimming like a ripple. .

Observing this robot has allowed scientists to study things like cutting into the spinal cord without having to injure any lampreys in the process.

Kamilo revealed that the next steps for this project could involve an attempt to control the robot and test its ability to swim when something goes wrong, in turbulent waters. This research could help inform future development of swimming robots, especially in the area of ​​ocean exploration, as well as possibly aid in human health research.