Goldfish. They're surprisingly good pets, especially when you're young, but unless you have deceptive and kind-hearted parents, they're also an early lesson in mortality. But they're also surprisingly good at something else: driving.
That's right, goldfish can drive--at least, they can with the help of the lunatic geniuses at Studio Diip (via TheVerge). By combining a couple of simple programmable circuit boards (Beagleboard and Arduino) with a webcam, a battery, a fish tank, and a robot vehicle, the team has freed the goldfish from its stationary status.
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How does the goldfish drive the vehicle? By swimming around its tank. The system sees where the goldfish is going, and directs the robot car to follow.
You might think that's a bit simplistic, but it turns out the goldfish's brain does the rest, navigating a room with surprising ease (and only a little bit of sloshing).
Weird, fun, and brilliant.
