Realistic robotic dolphin may save others from life of captivity

Around the world, pressure from environmental groups, law makers and the public at large is forcing aquariums, entertainment venues and movie stunt teams to rethink their use of captive sea creatures such as dolphins, seals and whales.

In China, such pressure is less. But a welcome ban on the import of wildlife means the growing number of new aquariums in the country can no longer get access to captive sea creatures from overseas. 

New high-tech industry being created

These factors are creating a remarkable new high-tech industry for robotic, but incredibly lifelike, sea creatures.

At the moment dolphins are leading the charge. But given their apparent success don’t be surprised if other ocean species are soon brought to life in the same way.

If commercially successful, this will solve a significant ethical dilemma while still enabling people to be educated about, and entertained by, dolphins.

Robot dolphin reacts to human gestures

According to a report by Radio New Zealand (RNZ), a Kiwi tech entrepreneur named Melanie Langlotz is at the heart of the project, which has already built a life-sized animatronic dolphin that looks and swims just like a real bottlenose and can react to human gestures.

Animatronics is the technique of making and operating lifelike robots, typically for use in film or other entertainment.

The 270kg prototype robot dolphin made its debut in a swimming pool earlier this year and, as the phrase goes, everything went swimmingly.

Watch the video here

Langlotz, an augmented reality gaming expert based in Auckland, told RNZ the project started with her own ethical dilemma just over a year ago.

She and her business partner Li Wang were asked to help design an aquarium in China with live dolphins and whales in its tanks.

However, they were unhappy with the idea of helping to keep animals in captivity. So they came up with the idea of using animatronic dolphins instead.

Challenges scared away some experts

Initially they struggled to find anyone who thought such a thing was possible, particularly given the challenges posed by submerging highly complex and sensitive electronics in salt water for extended periods of time.

Eventually, though, they found two experts in the US city of San Francisco who worked on Hollywood blockbusters such as Star Trek. Roger Holzberg, a former creative director for Disney, is one of them.

“This dolphin weighs, feels and has been engineered to simulate everything from the skeletal structure, to the muscular interaction with that skeletal structure, to the fat bladders and weight deposits on a real adolescent bottlenose dolphin,” he told RNZ.

Test audience couldn’t tell the difference between the dolphins

According to a report in the London-based Guardian newspaper, a test audience was unable to determine that the robotic dolphin they were interacting with was not the real thing.

The newspaper also quotes Elisa Allen, the UK director for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, as saying that she hoped robotic dolphins “will replace real ones in marine parks worldwide”.

In nature, dolphins swim “up to 40 miles (64km) a day and live in tight-knit family groups”, she said, but in captivity animals were confined to concrete pools filled with “chemically treated” water and forced to interact with strangers.

“In 2020, cutting-edge technology allows us to experience nature without harming it,” Allen said.