VELSHI: Well, the oil disaster in the Gulf of Mexico left millions of fish in harm's way. But now researchers are working on a robot that could lure them away from danger. CNN's Gary Tuchman takes us to the "Edge of Discovery."</s>GARY TUCHMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): There are plenty of fish in the sea. But this one could help us understand how they communicate. So what makes this fish so special? It's a robot.</s>MAURIZIO PORFIRI, ASSISTANT PROFESSOR, NYU-POLY: We can control the speed as he moves, and then we can make it go in circles.</s>TUCHMAN: It's powered by batteries and a motor. And while it might lack intricate details and shiny scales, researchers focused on one special feature: the tail.</s>PORFIRI: The main thing is that what we try to do is to get the same type of flow between the robots and the animals.</s>TUCHMAN: Researchers say the fish they studied didn't mind that the robot wasn't the same size and shape. The fish determined the robot was safe based on the way it moves. So by programming the robot to accurately mimic natural swimming motion, real fish will follow it.</s>PORFIRI: My specific goal as a scientist are to understand more how the fish swim together.</s>TUCHMAN: In the future, robot fish could be used to help lead schools of fish away from dangers, like pollution or underwater turbines. Gary Tuchman, CNN.</s>VELSHI: Fun story. All right. We've been hearing from everyone and their mother on this Islamic center controversy. How about we hear from New Yorkers? There's a new poll out ,and it's pretty interesting to see what people in New York are saying about this mosque. We'll have that when we come back.
Robots Developed to Guide Fish to Safety