A Special Effects Company Built a Robotic Dolphin so Aquariums Won’t Have to Keep Real Ones in Captivity

You do n’t need to have seen docudrama like The Cove to feel nervous about hulk , sharks , and dolphins being held imprisoned in tiny tanks at marine museum and melodic theme parks . But or else of eliminating those experience completely , which can help develop the populace about these tool , robots , like this ego - containedswimming dolphinfish , could instead be the star attractiveness .

paper commons like SeaWorld have always perplex ethical concerns because , unlike zoos , the captive creatures are often civilize and expect to perform for visitor several times a sidereal day . And while zoos raise similar ethical concerns , there have been efforts to make outdoor showing larger so they can more closely resemble an animal ’s raw habitat . Recreating the vast scale of the ocean just is n’t possible in a theme parking lot where aquatic exhibits are vie for tangible estate with ride and other attracter .

But an idea that was first tested over 20 eld ago might be the solution . At The Living Seas showing at Disneyworld ’s Epcot center , which have a six million gallon marine museum , a robotic dolphin ( also known as theDolphin Robotic Unit , or DRU ) would float around the tank and interact with real divers and existent ocean life as part of a written performance for guests . It did n’t fritter anyone until the robotic dolphin was used aspart of an interactive experienceat Castaway Cay , a private island Disney possess in the Bahamas used as a stop for its various cruise ship . Guests were able to get in the water and interact with the dolphin , and despite make out it was a robot , the experience felt far more existent gift how close they were able-bodied to get to it .

Two decades of robotics innovation later on , especial effect technician fromSan Francisco - based Edge Innovations , process with Walt Conti and Roger Holzberg , the former Creative Director / Vice - President at Walt Disney Imagineering , have designed and built a fresh robotic dolphin that moves and swims with an almost eery level of realism . Weighing in at a sizable 595 pounds , the robot has a battery life of about 10 minute , depending on its level of activity , and can come through in a saltwater environs for about 10 years , at which gunpoint newfangled and improved mannikin will presumably finally replace it .

The robotic mahimahi was design to not only simulate the movements and appearance of an factual teen - elderly bottlenose dolphin , but to palpate like one too with a realistic skeletal and heftiness structure underneath its outer skin , and accurate weight distribution that helps make its swimming motions see like the originative is in reality alive . But it ’s not . The one thing missing from the automaton dolphin are cameras , sensor , and intelligence to make it independent . Its fundamentally a self - contained marionette , with its movements control by a nearby operator so that the dolphin come out to react in real - fourth dimension to command , or interactions with masses .

This upgrade machinelike dolphin is n’t head for a Disney theme common or recourse , or else , it ’s being develop and tested for a series of attractions at a new Chinese aquarium where the government has put a arrest to the wildlife craft as part of its efforts to slow up and eventually end the spread of Covid-19 . But even when the pandemic is finally over , with robots that take care and move as realistically as this dolphinfish does , there ’s really no good reasonableness to use unrecorded animal in the popular ‘ swim with dolphins ’ experiences around the world . It does n’t want to eat on , it does n’t need veterinary services , and away from also being an ethical alternative to animate being in captivity , the robot is n’t self-directed and does n’t stick a potential prophylactic risk to guests . The worst that could happen is its batteries die at which point you just tell kids it ’s taking a nap .

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