Communications of the ACM
Gotcha! Ultra-Realistic Robot Proves There's More Than One Way to Scare a Fish
Researchers at New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering have developed bio-inspired robotic models that may be used as controllable stimuli for animal behavior experimentation.
Credit: Dr. Tom Bailey
New York University Polytechnic School of Engineering (NYU-Poly) researchers have developed bio-inspired robotic models that serve as controllable stimuli for experiments studying animal behavior.
The researchers also created an experimental fish tank divided into three compartments, the first of which was left empty, the second occupied by a live zebrafish, and the third filled with either a live red tiger oscar, a computer animation of a swimming oscar, or a robotic oscar replica. The researchers found the zebrafish exposed to the live red tiger oscar and those exposed to the robotic replica showed similar fear responses.
These fish spend far less time in the tank occupied by the live oscar or the robot. In fact, the avoidance response of zebrafish toward the robot was more consistent than toward the live red tiger oscar.
"When these fish are afraid, they also swim differently, and we were surprised to find that the robotic fish could produce an even stronger fear-related response than the actual live predator," says NYU-Poly professor Maurizio Porfiri.
He says the study can be used to examine social behavior, aspects of cognition, anxiety, and fear, all of which can be applied to the rest of the animal kingdom, including humans.
From NYU-Poly News
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