Researchers have developed a new robotic fish that’s designed to lead other fish out of danger.  A team at Polytechnic Institute of New York University led by Maurizio Porfiri studied the dynamics of schools of fish and of leader fish.  They found that leader fish gain the attention of the school by beating their tail fins rapidly and swimming around excitedly.  They designed a mechanism that emulates the motion of the leader fish.  The goal of the team was design a robotic fish that can steer schools of fish away from underwater turbines, but additional application could be steering fish away from oil spills and other toxic environments.

Read more about the work at Polytechnic Institute on the DiscoveryNews website.