Israel researchers have taught goldfish how to drive while in water a study has shown.
The study which was published in the peer-reviewed journal Behavioral Brain Research, noted that the Goldfish were trained to use a wheeled platform called the Fish Operated Vehicle (FOV)which could be driven and have its course changed in reaction to the fish’s movements inside a water tank mounted on the platform.
The task was for the fish to “drive” the robotic vehicle toward a target that could be observed through the walls of the fish tank.
” The vehicle was fitted with lidar, short for light detection and ranging, a remote sensing technology that uses lasers to collect data on its ground location and the fish’s location within the tank”. The washing post news reported
Shachar Givon one of the researchers from Ben-Gurion University said that the study hinted that navigational ability is universal rather than specific to the environment. “It shows that goldfish have the cognitive ability to learn a complex task in an environment completely unlike the one they evolved in.”
In 2014, a design lab in the Netherlands had been used with a fish tank mounted on a vehicle which came with a webcam.
Other animals that have been used before include Rats and reportedly Dogs.
