Robot Tuna to Protect America’s Watery Borders?

Are you worried about the safety of America’s waters? Rest easy. The overly paranoid folks at the Department of Homeland Security have a plan. Robotic tuna to the rescue! If that doesn’t work, we can try to stop ticking other countries off, but robots always come first cause robots are cool. And because if there were less ticked off folks we would have no reason to pay the DHS to build robot fishes.

robot tuna
A few years back, DHS Science and Technology Directorate started to fund the development of the unmanned underwater vehicle called the BIOSwimmer.  The robot was developed by Boston Engineering Corporation’s Advanced Systems Group in Waltham, Massachusetts. Yes, it was inspired by the tuna, but it’s not nearly as tasty. It sports high maneuverability in harsh environments though. You can see the robot tuna in action at about the 2:17 mark in this video clip:

The idea is that it would inspect the interior voids of ships like flooded bilges and tanks, and other hard to reach external areas. The DHS tunabot could also inspect and protect harbors and piers. If it ever hits the seas, it will probably carry out secret tuna missions we will never even hear about.

[via SS&R via Neatorama]


Aquarium Bed Lets you Sleep with the Fishes Every Night

Some fish lovers go all out with some pretty elaborate aquariums, but what if you never ever want to be apart from your fish. Well, you can always sleep with the fishes, and this aquarium bed is a pretty neat way to do that.

aquarium bedThis 650 gallon fish tank that rests just above your head while you sleep. Is that comforting or not? I personally would never trust any 650 gallon tank above me ever, but that’s just me. This amazing tank was created by Acrylic Tank Manufacturing for Jamestown, North Carolina’s Furnitureland South and was featured on an episode of Animal Planet’s Tanked.

If you want one like this, it will cost you about $12,000 for the privilege of sleeping under this thing, but if you really love fish it is probably well worth it. You might finally find Nemo even.

[via Hi Consumption via Incredible Things via Geekologie]


Magic Aquatic Garden Turns Fish Crap Into Plant Food [Video]

Perfect for anyone who finds captive fish therapeutic but hates to clean their tank, a Japanese company has created this aquaponics system that connects a small vegetable garden to an aquarium filled with fish to recycle their poop. More »