It seems that Colin Angle , co-founder of iRobot, a company very popular thanks to its Roomba robot vacuum cleaner, is a little bored in his day-to-day life, the only explanation that makes us understand why he has started working on the design and creation of a new robot a little different from his interesting vacuum cleaners since, on this occasion, it will be in charge of catching fish.
The truth is that this robot is currently being touted as one of the few hopes we have for capturing invasive fish species such as the Lionfish , an animal that is seriously threatening local species in Bermuda waters and is also very difficult to catch.
This robot with gripper is the ideal solution to rid the Bermuda Islands of Lionfish
Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the robot's development lies in the idea behind it, which originated in Colin Angle's mind during a visit to Bermuda. During this visit, the guide explained that lionfish were invading the islands' beaches and decimating the local reef species due to their ferocity.
On the other hand, after conducting a simple study, it was realized that because they are so difficult to catch , despite being able to lay up to two million eggs a year, restaurants are unable to obtain enough fresh fish and their demand is constantly growing.
The solution to this problem comes in the form of a robot equipped with metal bars on its front which, when touched by the fish, stun them with an electric shock and then suck them inside.
As you can see in the images, the first prototype of this robot is already being tested, and what stands out is its simplicity, both in terms of its operation and the materials used. Colin Angle himself has an explanation for this: it would be completely pointless to offer a half-million-dollar robot to perform this task because no customer would be interested. Therefore, they have been working on developing a unit whose price, once it reaches the market, will be around $1.000.