Bot Catches an Underwater Wave, Jellyfish Next

Small autonomous underwater vehicles could be very useful for studying the depths of the ocean and monitoring its changing conditions. But such nautical mini bots can be easily overpowered by turbulent ocean currents.

Caltech scientists led by John Dabiri, the Centennial Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering, have been taking advantage of the natural ability of jellyfish to traverse and plumb the ocean, outfitting them with electronics and prosthetic "hats" with which the creatures can carry small payloads on their nautical journeys and report their findings back to the surface.

These bionic jellyfish must contend with the ebb and flow of the currents they encounter, but the brainless creatures do not make decisions about how best to navigate to a destination, and once they are deployed, they cannot be remotely controlled.

"We know that augmented jellyfish can be great ocean explorers, but they don't have a brain," Dabiri says. "So, one of the things we've been working on is developing what that brain would look like if we were to imbue these systems with the ability to make decisions underwater."

Now Dabiri and his former graduate student Dr Peter Gunnarson, who is now at Brown University, have figured out a way