Thursday, March 22, 2012

UT Dallas Researchers Show Off Robotic Jellyfish

Looking for some of the most cutting edge technology being developed in Texas? Look no further than Dallas, where researchers at the University of Texas at Dallas, as well as collaborators at Virginia Tech, have developed a robotic "jellyfish", which needs nothing more than the oxygen and hydrogen in water to run. The researchers published the details of their robot--plus released a video this week, demonstrating a robotic "jellyfish", which uses hydrogen and oxygen to swim through the water. The jellyfish, created in the labs of Dr. Yonas Tadesse, is aimed at demonstrating technology which might be used in ocean dives for rescue and surveillance missions, and requires no batteries to run, releasing only water as a byproduct. The researchers did not say if they plan to commercialize the research, but said its RoboJelly device was inspired by the actual movements of the moon jellyfish.