The perfect sport fish…maybe.

I found an awesome site on line called Crabfu (crabfu.com) that showcase some cool robotics and steam powered machines. The one that caught my attention and imagination is the robotic fish called “Flapper”. I got to imagining about a scenario where a manmade lake was filled with these robot fish, and I was fishing for them. The lures were RF emitting sensors, with magnetized “hooks” that set onto the mouths of these fish. One can determine the level of difficulty of catching fish, or the type of species they would seek. One can also control the feeding pattern, size of the fight, and size of fish that would be attracted to the lures. Fish should have artificial behaviors programmed into them and once set free, is basically uncontrollable except to react to the lures. They will live through seasons, and have a home base somewhere in the middle of the lake where they go to feed off power providing pods. They will not grow, but they will survive through multiple catch and release. Some fish are programmed to be aggressive, and some are programmed to be finicky about the lure they will take. The uncertainty of catching fish will be gone, but this might prove to be a training ground, kind of like shooting at artificial deer. It will demand perfect presentations and timing. It’s freaky anyway you look at it, but then again is it any more freaky than playing a fishing video game? This will take some pressure off the natural fish, and at least people won’t be taking ice box full of natural fish for their freezer. I’ll bet this scenario will play itself out within the next 10 years. Definitely check out the web site for some cool machine/ robotic art, very interesting. Video here: http://www.crabfu.com/swashbot/robot_fish.html