Swimming in deep waters and something homing in rapidly on you flippers: not a scenario you’d want to be in. Thank God the thing catching up with you is only AQUA – a friendly amphibious robot. The six flipped machine – a joint venture between McGill University, York University and Dalhousie University (all Canadian) – is friendly enough, gifted with an ability to follow humans in order to learn water routes. AQUA then uses these routes to patrol endangered marine ecosystems.

AQUA has primarily been built to assess marine habitats and biodiversity on coral reefs. It has been equipped with tracking software to detect rhythmic motion at a frequency of 1 and 2 times a second. This enables it to follow a diver by tracking his flippers. To discern these from other fishes, it also tracks the specific colors of the flippers.

And when I said it was amphibious, I really meant it. AQUA can also walk on ground rotating its flippers. Watch the video of this robot swimming in Barbados last year and judge its abilities yourself.

Via: NewScientist183404