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HAYWARD, Calif. (Reuters) - Darting around the pool as a group of swimmers stands in the shallow end, the dolphin looks much like those that jump through hoops and perform acrobatics at theme parks.
But this marine creature is a robot.
“When I first saw the dolphin, I thought it could be real,” said a woman who swam with the remote-controlled creature.
Edge Innovations, a U.S. engineering company with an animatronic and special effects division in California, designed the dolphin, which cost $26 million.
It hopes that life-like animatronics used in Hollywood movies could one day entertain crowds at theme parks, instead of wild animals held in captivity. Swimmers could dive with robotic great white sharks or even reptiles that filled Jurassic-era seas millions of years ago.
But this marine creature is a robot.
“When I first saw the dolphin, I thought it could be real,” said a woman who swam with the remote-controlled creature.
Edge Innovations, a U.S. engineering company with an animatronic and special effects division in California, designed the dolphin, which cost $26 million.
It hopes that life-like animatronics used in Hollywood movies could one day entertain crowds at theme parks, instead of wild animals held in captivity. Swimmers could dive with robotic great white sharks or even reptiles that filled Jurassic-era seas millions of years ago.
The robot dolphin that could replace captive animals at theme parks one day
Darting around the pool as a group of swimmers stands in the shallow end, the dolphin looks much like those that jump through hoops and perform acrobatics at theme parks.
www.reuters.com
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