Just as the robotic tuna fish roaming the seas for environmental observation and data collection for scientists, the researchers at the University of Virginia have come up with a robotic ray. There are already successful robotic jellyfish, octopi and other fish models which have been made just this for purpose. For this robotic ray, the purpose to be served is the same, that to study deep sea and also become successful in performing surveillance for the military.

This purpose of serving the spying agencies around the world would be an added advantage for the military purposes, as killing of a lot of these aquatic animals is banned by the law and these robotic spies could get away unnoticed and unharmed. But besides these surveillance options, the best part of developing a robotic ray is really its use in discovering oceans beyond our reach. To study wild life at deep under the sea where humans cannot go.

The scientists have developed this new ray after the cow-nosed ray where a real one was used to assist in modeling. So it is as close as to the real one. The ray has a flying motion which is unique amongst the underway life and gives it better movement than the rest of the aquatic animals. It has many electronic parts in it to be operative and requires batteries. For now it has cables and rods attached to it, but when it has to be presented as a real ray, the scientists have to work on getting rid of these cables and rods.