A team of scientists from Singapore has built an autonomous "Anguilliform" robotic eel that can swim deep underwater and reach areas inaccessible to human divers.

The robotic eel can swim forward and backward. It uses torque to control its joints and can turn around by using oscillators, an artificial neural network and an outer amplitude modulator.

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"We performed simulations and experiments on the robotic fish, equipped with a motion library to cope with different scenarios," said Jianxin Xu, one of the researchers behind the project.

"And the results validate the effectiveness of the proposed controllers was able to swim forward and backward as predicted."

Living eels measure from 5 cm (2 inches) to 4 m (13 feet) in length and usually live in shallow waters of the ocean.

To develop the robot eel, scientists selected the natural behavior and locomotion of eels because of their notable flexibility and amphibious potential. With its snake-like shape, the robotic eel can operate in narrow areas.

Reports say Russian and Allied militaries are currently looking into flexible, unmanned underwater devices to be used for gathering information.

They aim to use these devices to reach areas impossible for human divers to reach. These devices will have the ability to inspect underwater objects, clear explosive underwater mines and even fight enemy divers.

TagsEel, Anguilliform, Artificial Neural Network, Oscillators, Amplitude Modulator, Locomotion, Military, underwater