Hardware Podcasts

233. Reading a Fish’s Mind to Build Smarter Robots

The Next Byte Podcast · 18 Nov 2025 · 17m

What this episode covers

Researchers from EPFL and Duke University reverse-engineered zebrafish navigation by using transparent larvae to map live neural activity, creating a simulation called SimZFish that matched real fish behavior. They validated this model by building an 80-centimeter robotic fish that uses only vision inputs to maintain position in a current, proving that complex sensory systems are unnecessary for this specific task. The team made their simulation tools and findings freely available to the scientific community to encourage further cross-disciplinary collaboration in bio-inspired robotics.

Most relevant to

early-stage companies

Topics

Mentioned

Companies
Mouser Electronics, EPFL, Duke University
Also
SimZFish, zebrafish

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