Goldfish Learn to Drive a Robot Vehicle

Researchers in Israel have built a robot car that goldfish can drive.

A team at Ben-Gurion University put a small fish tank on top of a wheeled robot. A camera tracks where the goldfish is inside the tank. When the fish swims toward one side, the robot rolls that way.

Six goldfish were trained to use the robot. They learned to drive it toward a target on land. After a few weeks, they could even find the target when the researchers moved it to a new spot.

"We were surprised by how quickly the fish learned," said Shachar Givon, one of the researchers. "It shows that fish can find their way around even outside of water."

The study was published in the science journal Behavioural Brain Research. The team wanted to learn how animals find their way in places that are not where they normally live.

The story has been picked up by other news outlets, including Smithsonian Magazine and Science magazine. A short video of the goldfish driving the robot has been viewed more than two million times online.