This robot fish can suck up microplastics from water

(Image credit: Nano Letters 2022)

Scientists in China have developed a robotic fish that can remove microplastics from water.

Made up of polyurethane, a synthetic resin, the bionic fish is just 13 millimetres in length. It can swim at a speed similar to plankton.

The material used to create the fish is such that microplastics cling to it.

Microplastics are tiny fragments of larger plastic debris. Because of their tiny size, they can easily contaminate water and food and have emerged as one of the biggest threats to the environment.

The robot fish created by scientists at China's Sichuan University opens up one more avenue of tackling the hazard.

For now, the bionic fish has shown the capability to suck up waste in shallow water but scientists hope to put it to use in deeper regions too in hopes of analysing marine pollution, news agency Reuters reported.

“After the robot collects the microplastics in the water, the researchers can further analyse the composition and physiological toxicity of the microplastics,” Yuyan Wang, a researcher at Sichuan University, was quoted as saying by The Guardian.

The fish has a flexible body that can heal itself when damaged. In case it is accidentally ingested by other fish, it is digestible without causing any harm.

Scientists say the one-of-its-kind invention has great importance.

“It is of great significance to develop a robot to accurately collect and sample detrimental microplastic pollutants from the aquatic environment,” Wang told The Guardian. “To the best of our knowledge, this is the first example of such soft robots.”