Applications for studies of WEF

Although people have known about them for a long time, electric fish have only now begun to be studied in depth, and already many applications for these studies have been found. The Romans used electric rays to cure health problems, unknowingly inventing electroshock therapy. Electric fish were also studied as a source of electricity until other electrochemical and electromagnetic generators were discovered, but Alessandro Volta invented the battery attempting to reproduce fish electricity. While strongly electric fish use their electric charges for offensive or defensive purposes, weakly electric fish use theirs as sensory guidance systems for navigation in low-visibility water as well as predator or prey detection and communication. Studying the electrical transmissions of weakly electric fish has aided scientists in understanding spinal motoneuron transmissions involving electric potential gradients.

Military Sensory Applications

• Ocean sensors modeled after the sensitive electroreceptors of sharks are used for ocean research and the detection of water-borne electric fields. This gives information on passing ships as well as possible corrosion on own

• These devices pick up less electrode noise than other sensory equipment and do not use copper wires. They also can detect much finer fields

Electric Fish as Biosensors

• Changes in electric pulse rate can identify the presence of certain chemicals in water

• Present monitoring systems cannot take continuous readings or read for multiple chemicals while fish can

• Fish electric pulse rates vary with changes in temperature, hydrogen ion concentration (pH), and chemicals such as cyanide, dichromate, and chromium

Medical Applications

• The black ghost is a weakly electric fish which lives in murky freshwater amongst underwater tree roots. The fish’s electrosensory abilities have many parallels with the human auditory system. This has lead to the development of the "bionic ear", a prosthetic hearing device for deaf people. The artificial retina in progress also being studied for its quick detection rates for water pollution

• Pulsing electric fish have the most reliable pulses yet found in nature and their pacemakers are being studied for the treatment of heart arrhythmid problems and the development of better artificial pacemakers for human

Non-Contact Human-Computer Interfaces

• Weakly electric fish, in particular gymnotiforms, sharks, and catfish which use electric pulse modulation and spectral changes are being studied and copied for the invention of non-contact interfaces

• For example, eels scattered about a murky pool can use a common electric field to communicate and relay their positions, autonomously adjusting transmissions (using the Jamming Avoidance Response) to avoid conflicts with the electric fields of each new eel introduced based on this, scientists have invented the "smart fish" (named for the weakly electric fish) which is like a mouse that can operate in three dimensions rather than two. This is better than previous sensor technologies because it does not care about surface texture and reflectivity as optical systems do. It also only needs three channels, a very short amount of time, and very little energy to locate an object in 3-D space, unlike video location which requires lots of data. Overall, smart fish location systems can be small, lightweight, low power, and inexpensive as well as fast. Electric field sensors can have a large workspace but be limited to a watch face.

Future Applications of Human-Computer Interfaces

• "Smart furniture" such as a table turned into a gesture-recognition device could project an image of a virtual newspaper. When the table senses a hand moving in a particular direction, the image of the newspaper would turn its page. A "smart chair" could have hand and head placement detection fields, and subtle body positioning would control equipment such as sound systems or office machinery

• An entire human-sensing room would allow for navigation of a sonic environment using no visuals. Electric field sensors would be installed in a "smart floor" which would measure the deformation, position, and orientation of any intruding electric fields (from a person), without the use of any wires or video cameras. The room would also be able to keep track of multiple individuals