Have you ever wondered how fish swim in shoals without ever colliding with one another? Japanese car maker Nissan has taken inspiration from the animal kingdom to design a tiny car robot Eporo -- that mimics the behavior of fish when they swim in shoals. The car robot Eporo can move in a fleet without bumping into their traveling companions. Nissan believes that this new technique can be used in future cars as a crash avoidance system.

Last year, Nissan had unveiled BR23C robot car which was again inspired from the behavior of bumblebees in avoiding collisions. So, this is the second time Nissan is looking for inspiration for its designs from the animal world. The Japanese automaker did extensive research as to how large schools of fish can swim in shoals without bumping into each other. It says Eporo imitates three rules of fish movement

• traveling side by side
• avoiding crashes
• keeping close to other members of the group

The car robots also can form the most efficient group formation to maneuver through tight spots by constant communication with each other

The new three-wheeled robot Eporo, which is designed to travel in a group of up to seven vehicles, would be shown off at Ceatec Japanese design fair in Tokyo on October 6. The car robots use laser range finders and ultra-wideband radio to measure the distance between each other as well as other obstacles. The data is constantly shared between the traveling companions via radio, allowing the group to travel smoothly as a “shoal” without colliding into each other.

You can see a preview of the Eporo in the following Japanese video

Eporo stands for Episode O (Zero) Robot. That funny sounding name means zero episodes, as in zero accidents. The Eporo is the first robot car designed to move in a group by sharing its position and other information.? Nissan aims to incorporate this technology into future passenger cars to reduce accidents and traffic jams.

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