DRU - Dolphin Robotic Unit

That is the DRU (Dolphin Robotic Unit) and I mentioned in my preview earlier this week that I would talk about the implications it has for research. Unfortunately, I'm drawing a bit of a blank right now, but my the first question that popped into my head was, "How would wild dolphins react to something like this?" It's movements are incredibly accurate, though not quite as fast as a real dolphin. I think there needs to be more tests to see how dolphins react to it without a barrier... I mean... I know they must be afraid that the dolphins might try tearing it apart if they find it too threatening, but from what I've seen in the video, they seem more curious than afraid. Though, that's with captive dolphins, wild dolphins may have a completely different outcome.

Keepon!

This is a bit off-topic, but not really, since I did mention that I would talk about robotics in this blog. I just got so excited about this, that I had to mention it!

The Keepon robot, that a lot of robot fanatics were anxious to see when it would finally be able to purchase, is finally going to release in retail form! And for just $40! Though, it is just a toy version of it, but it will still hopefully have some of the functionality of the research model (priced at whopping $30,000).

To explain a bit about what the Keepon does exactly, here's is the page explaining it. (I know, I went the lazy route of linking you to another page.) But, for your entertainment, here's a music video featuring the Keepon robot:

A preview of what's to come

To hold you over, here's a picture of me with Buster, a short-beaked common dolphin.

I'm not sure how much traffic I will be getting to this blog, since I have it linked in many different places and I try to inform people when I make new post. Hopefully, they will be curious enough to see what this blog is about. I thought I would whip up a small preview of what I have planned for the next several posts and list the topics that will be discussed. So... here is a list to preview what's to come for this blog in the near future.

• DRU - Dolphin Robotic Unit
• A robotic dolphin and it's implications for research
• Public Aquariums
• The importance of public aquariums and how they impact people
• Education of conservation through video games
• A brief overview of a video game series called 'Endless Ocean' and how it can help people's awareness of marine conservation
• Documentary mini-series about cetaceans
• A dream documentary that would be a scale of something like 'Blue Planet' or 'Life' 
• Web series about aquariums
• A planned, mapped out series I hope to start in 2012 about the aquariums in America
• Evolution of Cetaceans
• A general overview of the history of cetacean evolution and my opinions on recent findings
• Marine Life Art
• This may be a weekly series of photos, drawings, and paintings that I find to share with you, some of which may be my own
• More Closer Encounters
• Like this article, there will be more, of both other people's experiences and my own.