China - August 26, 2024

China develops world's first intelligent robotic whale shark

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A gigantic robotic whale shark is cruising the waters of an ocean park in Shanghai before being deployed to the open waters to help scientists better understand and explore the ocean.

The whale shark is about five meters long, weighs 350 kilograms and has a sophisticated system of sensors and cameras that collect an enormous amount of information.

Its developers say they’re working on ways to distinguish and categorize the useful information from the unimportant data.

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Fang Xuelin, assistant director, Underwater Propulsion Technology Research Office, Shenyang Aerospace Xinguang Group, Third Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation:

"For example, when this robot performs underwater, or carries out a task, it will inevitably encounter various obstacles on its route. How to fuse information obtained by multiple sensors is actually a technical difficulty. It can be understood that the brain of a whale shark is a computer. A mass of data must be screened and extracted synchronously, and then mutually corrected and verified before the truly effective data can be quickly extracted for our bionic whale shark to identify the surrounding environment."

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The whale shark is part of a fleet of underwater robots that are expected to be used to monitor water quality, survey underwater terrain, and other tasks.

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Gao Chao, designer, Underwater Propulsion Technology Research Office, Shenyang Aerospace Xinguang Group, Third Academy of China Aerospace Science and Industry Corporation:

"This is the largest bionic fish we have studied so far. The whale shark has seven actuated joints, and each joint requires computing, communication, and sensing, which is also our key technology."

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The company that makes the whale shark has also created robotic dolphins, Yangtze finless porpoises, and killer whales.

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