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This fish drives better than you

This study will change the way we usually look at goldfish! Scientists have found a way to drive a mobile platform (resembling a kart…) by goldfish. And it works, very well even.

Goldfish are like us after all: they need experience to learn to drive. A team of researchers from Ben-Gurion University in the Negev, Israel, “trained” goldfish to drive a four-wheeled mobile platform, equipped with LIDAR, camera and computer positioned in height. And an aquarium, of course!

Are the fish aware of their surroundings?

To stimulate the goldfish, the researchers gave rewards for each crossing of a red line. The first tests took about thirty minutes of “driving”, but the drivers quickly mastered the operation of their vehicle. The task was thus accomplished in less than a minute!

The camera follows the movements of the fish, triggering changes in the direction of the vehicle. A use of technology that is out of the ordinary, for an equally impressive result!

For the team, it was a question of knowing if the goldfish are aware of their environment, beyond their liquid meadow which is the aquarium. It really seems like yes. The fish were able to drive the platform, explore the environment and reach their target, whatever the starting point, the researchers say. They have also been able to avoid dead ends by correcting their trajectory.

These results demonstrate how a fish can harness its spatial representation skills and navigation capabilities in an entirely different terrestrial environment, they argue. The hypothesis that this universal quality exceeds species is thus reinforced.

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