Scientists at Caltech were inspired by jellyfish’s energy-saving locomotion strategies to devise new ocean vessel propulsion systems and heart disease diagnostics.
They researched the efficient movement of jellyfish through water, and their locomotion led them to discover connections with the flow dynamics of blood in the human heart. This could help the development of diagnostic systems via enhanced detection and improved understanding of heart disease.
Since, 2019, John Dabiri, Caltech’s Centennial Professor of Aeronautics and Mechanical Engineering, has been on a quest to augment jellyfish with electronics. Through this initiative, he hoped to collect data about the ocean’s response to climate change.
Jellyfish turn into deep sea scientists
Dabiri tried to turn jellyfish into deep-sea scientists by attaching electronic devices to them. They’re just heavy enough to still let the jellyfish swim for a few days at least. For the experiment, these jellyfish were placed first in a six-foot-high container and then scaled up to a 20-foot-tall container where the water flow was controlled.
“We found a space in the Guggenheim Aeronautical Laboratory building that looks like an elevator shaft where they forgot to put in the elevator,” stated Dabiri.
“The idea became this big, 40,000-pound structure that would sit suspended over a region where the researchers can go underneath to gather specific measurements.”
Jellyfish housed in a 3,600-gallon tank also contained two motors to control water flow that stimulated ocean conditions, mainly the upwelling and downwelling flow.
According to a statement by Caltech, a filter system and temperature controls keep the animals healthy while turning vanes on the tank bottom maintain a uniform flow of water.
“I remember when we first filled up the tank, there actually was a moment when we started to hear these cracking sounds,” Dabiri added.
“I was with one of the vendors underneath the tank and, of course, we bolted out in a hurry. Turns out it was just the normal settling of tank materials, but it highlighted the importance of the engineering having to be very accurate.”
Augmented jellyfish swim 4.5 times faster even with payload
Jellyfish with the implanted electronic devices were curated in addition to a forebody structure similar to hats on the ocean animal’s belly.
These were designed by graduate student Simon Anuszczyk. The structures streamline the jellyfish and allow attachment of sensors. Dabiri and Anuszczyk demonstrated that augmented jellyfish could swim up to 4.5 times faster than those without enhancements, even while carrying additional equipment.
Now the scientist is developing a computer-vision algorithm that tracks and identifies the location of individual jellyfish with a forebody.
“If the animal speeds up a little bit or slows down, you want the tank to increase or decrease its flow to keep the animal in place on the treadmill,” Dabiri explained.
This allows it to be continuously monitored. “Simon has come up with a really clever AI-based method to do that using a camera that’s looking at the animal.”
He added, “We’re hoping to be able to let the jellyfish swim in the treadmill for up to three or four days, which is approximately the amount of time it would take for them swim down into the trench from the surface of the ocean.”
