Robot Fish to monitor Water Pollution

Marine life is tottering under the heavy burden of toxic waste, which as a result of rapid industrialization is being released into seas and rivers all over the world. Researchers at the University of Essex are working on a new robot, which will be equipped with chemical sensors to sniff out pollutants present in water bodies and relay them to their control centers.



The robots will mimic the movement of fish and as they find possible areas of contamination, they will relay the location to other robots in their vicinity using Wi-Fi. Completely autonomous, the robots will have artificial intelligent software that will enable them to navigate on their own. Using GPS, the robots can also return to the control center to deliver information and also recharge their batteries.

The robots will be released in groups, where each group will consist of five fish robots. For now the robots will be set off free in Thames, where they will produce a 3D pollution map, if the tests are successful, they could be used worldwide.

Source: Dailymail

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GPS in a Simcard named SIMply

Many of us get disappointed that our mobile phone doesn’t have a GPS device like other mobile phones. Well, if your cellular phone has a SIM card reader, then you should have no problem getting a GPS in your phone with the aptly-named SIMply-A-GPS.

This product, developed by Sagem-Orga and BlueSky Positioning, is definitely one of those products that truly defines plug-and-play. Somehow, these two groups have figured out how to put a GPS receiver, antenna, as well as the application software into a product that fits into any phone’s card reader.

It can work with any GSM or 3G phone, and, when inserted, it will run on your mobile like a SIM/USMI. Apparently, there are no software or hardware changes required for handsets, and it can support generic location-based services such as navigation, such as “find a place or person” services and location-aware games.

It also supports E-112 and E-911 Emergency Call Positioning and enables SIM, mobile, and network-based LBS applications.

Unfortunately, there doesn’t appear to be a release date for this product, but there is word that the product was given out last November. Perhaps the company wanted to give out samples in hopes word of mouth would spread.

Source: Sagem-orga

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