China develops self-healing robot fish that can gobble microplastics

A team of Chinese scientists from Sichuan University have built robot fish that are soft to touch similar to that of real fish.

A Reuters report quoted the scientist saying that there is an inbuilt feature to these robotic fish that helps them eat microplastics from the water body they are kept in.

The robot fish are just 1.3 centimeters or 0.5 inches in size.

The team of Chinese scientists have already tested the efficiency of the fishes in getting rid of the microplastics, by keeping them in the shallow water where they sucked up all the microplastics away.

Another amazing feature of these fishes is that they can swim upto 2.76 body lengths per second, faster than most artificial soft robots. These fishes are able to absorb pollutants and recover themselves even when it is damaged.

These black robot fishes left in water can still be controlled by the scientists from outside to avoid crashing into other fishes or ships for that matter with the irradiated light feature, helping it to flap its fins and wiggle its body.

The scientists told Reuters that if the robot fish is accidentally eaten by other fish, it can be digested without any harm as it is made from polyurethane, which is also biocompatible.

The fish is able to absorb pollutants and recover itself even when it is damaged.

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