The robot dolphin that could replace captive animals at theme parks one day

California, October 14

Darting around the pool as a group of swimmers stands in the shallow end, the dolphin looks much like those that jump through hoops and perform acrobatics at theme parks.

But this marine creature is a robot.

"When I first saw the dolphin, I thought it could be real," said a woman who swam with the remote-controlled creature.

Edge Innovations, a US engineering company with an animatronic and special effects division in California, designed the dolphin for an educational pilot program.

It hopes that life-like animatronics used in Hollywood movies could one day entertain crowds at theme parks, instead of wild animals held in captivity. Swimmers could dive with robotic great white sharks or even reptiles that filled Jurassic-era seas millions of years ago.

"There are like 3,000 dolphins currently in captivity being used to generate several billions of dollars just for dolphin experiences. And so there's obviously an appetite to love and learn about dolphins," said Edge Innovations founder and CEO Walt Conti.

Some 20 European countries have already banned or limited the presence of wild animals in circuses.

Edge also made the aquatic creatures used in Hollywood blockbusters "Free Willy," "Deep Blue Sea" and "Anaconda."

"The idea of this pilot is really to create a kind of "Sesame Street" under water," said Roger Holzberg, creative director for Edge's animatronic program.

"Those characters taught a generation how to feel about different kinds of aspects of humankind in ways that had never been imagined before. And that's what we dream of with this project." Reuters

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