Computer simulation brings us closer to schools of fishlike underwater research drones

Skoltech researchers and their colleagues from ESPCI Paris, Chiba University, and Japan Agency for Marine-Earth Science and Technology have used a 3D simulation to show that small fish swimming in a school can sense the position and tail beat of their neighbors as water pressure variation on the side of their bodies. This mechanism is thought to enable fish to maximize swimming efficiency in a group even in complete darkness, when no visual cues are available. Understanding group motion of fish is useful for predicting their migration and designing aquatic research robots that mimic fish behavior either for the energy-saving benefits of moving in a group or to blend in with the ocean creatures they are studying. The paper is published in Frontiers in Robotics and AI.