(CNN) – About 400 kilometers from the nearest sea, engineering students at ETH Zurich in Switzerland are hard at work on next-generation robots that could change the way the world’s oceans are studied.
The robotic fish “Eve” swings its silicone tail from side to side, powered by pumps hidden inside, as it glides fluidly through the cold waters of Lake Zurich, where it is being tested by SURF-eDNA. The student-led group has spent the last two years building a school of soft robotic fish, of which Eve is the latest.
“By making ‘Eve’ look like a fish, we can be minimally invasive in the ecosystem we are studying,” master’s student Dennis Baumann told CNN, adding that the biomimetic design should prevent other fish or marine life from being scared by his presence. “We can mix, we can integrate into the ecosystem,” he added.
“Eve’s” ability to camouflage herself as a fish is not its only usefulness. The autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) is also equipped with a camera for underwater filming and sonar that, when combined with an algorithm, allows it to avoid obstacles.
The AUV also has a filter to collect DNA from the environment, known as “eDNA”, while it swims. The eDNA particles can be sent to a laboratory to be sequenced to determine what species live in the body of water.
“All animals that are in the environment lose their DNA, so there is DNA floating around that we can find,” Martina Lüthi, a postdoctoral researcher at ETH Zurich, told CNN.
Students hope “Eve” can give scientists a more detailed picture of the oceans and their inhabitants. Although they cover more than 70% of our planetmuch of what lies beneath the surface remains a mystery.
Tools such as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) and remotely operated vehicles are increasingly being used to explore the ocean and learn more about underwater habitats. For example, the startup Aquaaifounded in California, has developed drones that look like clownfish and can collect information such as oxygen, salinity and pH levels in waterways; and last year, a rover captured the fish filmed at greater depthat 8,300 meters.
The use of eDNA to monitor biodiversity is growingbut sampling can be rudimentary: some scientists They still collect it by scooping water with a cup tilted over the side of a boat.
More advanced tools that can study environments in more detail could be vital to better protecting Earth’s oceans, at a time when ocean habitats face unprecedented threats from climate change, overfishing and other human activities.
“We want to build a reliable tool for biologists,” said Baumann, who added that he hopes they can one day expand their technology, so that it is accessible to any scientist who wants to use it. “Maybe we can prevent species from becoming endangered or extinct.”
