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Swimming With Robots?
Courtesy of Edge Innovations
This dolphin may look real, but it’s actually a lifelike replica.
Robot animals could soon be headed to an aquarium near you. A U.S.-based tech company, Edge Innovations, created animatronic bottlenose dolphins that can swim in salt water and react to human gestures. They also “live” longer than a real dolphin and are cheaper to maintain. It all started when two entrepreneurs in New Zealand were asked to design a Chinese aquarium. They didn’t feel comfortable with the idea of animal captivity, so they dreamed up another way to entertain animal lovers. To ensure that the fake dolphins looked ultrarealistic, the entrepreneurs teamed up with Edge, whose designers have created some of Hollywood’s best-known robotic creatures, including ones in Star Trek and Jurassic World movies. At least one Chinese corporation has already committed to filling its tanks with the robots, and as marine parks all over the globe face pressure to end entertainment with real animals, it’s possible the fake dolphins will be used in other countries too. “We believe that it’s time to reimagine this industry,” Roger Holzberg, one of the designers, told The Guardian, “and that this approach can be more humane and more profitable at the same time.”