14 DAY TRIAL // In order to clear pollution from water, you first need to know that it is polluted, and British consultancy group BMT Group figured it was time someone invented a fast means of testing the sea.
What the company did was create a robotic fish that tests the water for pollutants, through special sensors.
Relevant data is transmitted to receiving stations one or two miles away, allowing for conclusions to be drawn in seconds instead of weeks.
The fish are mostly autonomous and can communicate with each other in order to avoid checking the same patch of sea over and over. Sure, each one of them costs $31,600 (24,964.44 Euro) but, as cheesy as it sounds, the planet is worth every expense.
“Chemical sensors fitted to the fish permit real-time, in-situ analysis, rather than the current method of sample collection and dispatch to a shore based laboratory,” said BMT Group scientist Luke Speller.
The Spanish port of Gijon is being used for the first test run of the robofish.