Sonar

Scientists at Tel Aviv University have used the impressive echolocation abilities of bats as inspiration for a new robot, which is able to use ultrasound to autonomously navigate through an environment.

A team of researchers has developed a "cloaking device" that works underwater. The new metamaterial shield is able to intercept and bend underwater sound waves, like sonar, around it without scattering them – making it appear as if the cloak and anything within it isn't there at all.

We’re increasingly seeing drones that cross over between sea and sky. Now engineers from North Carolina State University have developed the EagleRay XAV, an amphibious fixed-wing drone that can fly above or dive below the waves as needed.

Last year, we first heard about Fraunhofer's DEDAVE unmanned submersible. Then this July, we got word of an initiative aimed at locating sunken flight models of a famous Canadian jet fighter. Now, the two have come together – a DEDAVE has located a couple of of the models.

Malware on your smartphone – or other smart device – could someday be used to track your body position or identify your movements within a room. That's the conclusion reached by researchers at the University of Washington, who created a program that turns such devices into active sonar systems.

Rescue workers searching flood sites need to know what's under the water, but invariably that water is going to be very murky. Well, that's the main scenario for which the IrukaTact was created. It's a submersible haptic feedback glove that lets users "feel" what's below the surface.

While just about everyone knows that bats locate prey in the dark using echolocation, one thing that many people may not realize is the fact that horseshoe bats are particularly good at it. With this in mind, engineers are now developing a sonar system that emulates the system used by those bats.

Researchers at the University of Washington (UW) have created an app they claim can detect sleep apnea with similar accuracy to available methods, potentially removing the need for expensive equipment and overnight hospital stays.

On treadmills, runners have to manually adjust the speed of the machine. Perhaps they won't have to for too longer, however. Scientists at The Ohio State University have developed a prototype treadmill that detects when its user's running speed changes, and adjusts its own speed accordingly.

Maybe not as glamorous as drones that go faster or shoot beautiful images, but making them less likely to crash into objects is still critical to advancing the technology. Startup Panoptes' answer to this is a kit that can be slapped onto certain consumer drones to stop them running into things.

The Clever Buoy system uses sonar to detect sharks, potentially providing a more humane and reliable alternative to shark nets at beaches.

In the battle between man and fish, technology has swayed things to the humans' favor. Fish finders are probably the most prevalent use of technology in fishing, and FishHunter takes things one step further by incorporating Bluetooth and a smartphone into the fish-locating equation.