Watch: The goldfish that can drive a vehicle

Israeli researchers have found that goldfish can control and navigate a vehicle with their motion. A team of researchers at Ben Gurion University has developed a vehicle that they call Fish Operated Vehicle (FOV) that is operated by a goldfish.

This FOV comes fitted with lidar, a remote sensing technology that uses pulsed laser light to collect data on the vehicle's ground location and the fish's whereabouts inside a water tank. The tank is fitted on a platform that comes loaded with a computer, camera, electric motors and omni-directional wheels. With all these, the fish is at the helm.

The researchers also found that when a goldfish is properly trained with food treats and provided with a suitable platform. They claim that the fish didn't take a long time to learn how to drive a vehicle. The goldfishes were claimed to have quickly realised that there is a correlation between their movement and the movement of a machine that they are in.

The FOV moves after sensing the goldfish's movement inside the water tank. There is an overhead sensor that grabs the movement of the fish and sends data to the computer onboard, which processes the data and ensures movement of the vehicle using the omni-directional wheels.

So far, six goldfish were taught to pilot the vehicle. Each of them was provided with around ten driving lessons. To train them, they were rewarded with food each time they reached a target. This is not the first time any animal is used for driving a vehicle. Previously as well dogs, cats and rats have been used for driving a vehicle.

The innovation is unique, but the researchers have not revealed if the findings of this experiment will be used anywhere else or not.

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