Check this out. A company in The Netherlands, called Studio diip, has come up with a really cool idea — a mobile aquarium that's 'driven' around the office by the goldfish swimming inside it.

The company, already known for producing some pretty amazing computer image recognition systems, set up the aquarium on wheels to let their goldfish have a wider run of the office.

"'Fish on Wheels' has been developed so fish can steer their tank into a certain direction," they wrote on their website. "Our pet fish have always been limited to their water holding area known as 'the fish tank.' In an attempt to liberate fish all over the world, the first self driving car for fish has been developed."

A pretty standard battery pack and DC motor run the aquarium, but it's the combination of a web camera, a computer and a controller (along with the goldfish itself) that actually drive it around. The camera, looking down from above, records where the fish is within the confines of the aquarium. This information is processed by a small Beagleboard computer installed on board, which then relays commands to an Arduino controller, which drives the aquarium in that direction.

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From the video, it looks like the goldfish gets around quite well in the mobile tank. Given that goldfish are supposed to have pretty good vision, from its perspective, it's probably the equivalent of having the whole office flooded to a depth of about 20 centimetres. It can 'swim' around in whatever direction it wants, investigating any part of the office it's interested in.

By the way, although this would technically qualify as a mobile home, according to the company, the fish doesn't spend all its time in the Fish on Wheels. When it's done roaming around for the day, it gets transferred back to a normal, stationary tank. Given the potential shenanigans it could get up to while the office is closed, that's probably for the best.

(Video and image courtesy: Studio diip)

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