China has successfully developed a fish-shaped robot for underwater archaeological studies.

With a black body, the 1.23-meter-long robot is much like a real fish in shape and movement. Through a palm-size remote control pad, technicians gave different instructions, making it swim supplely up and down, said Tan Min, deputy director of the Automation Research Institute under the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS).

"The robot is able to work for two to three hours under water with the maximum speed of 1.5 meters per second," said Wang Tianmiao, director of the Research Institute of Robotics at Beijing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, which developed the robot.

The robot is flexible in action, easy to operate and makes little disturbance to surrounding environment. The robot had been tested in an underwater search of a sunken ancient warship last August.

"With further improvement, the robot can be used in underwater photography, narrow strait detection, water aquiculture and rescue operation," Tan said.

(Xinhua News Agency December 8, 2004)