They're very soothing. About the size of a large grapefruit, the robot jellyfish gently moves up and down its tank when the aquarium lights are turned on. Thanks to sensors, it doesn't touch the sides. They 'swim 'gently around the aquarium until they run into the side wall or another creature, when a nose-mounted sensor turns them around and they gently move off in the other direction. Takara , the third-largest toy maker in Japan, expects the Aquaroids to be a big hit.
Users say watching the jellyfish can be as hypnotic as staring at the real things.
But attempts to bring a solar-powered model to the United States and Europe have foundered. Tiger also discovered that contrary to expectations, the robot fish are quite fussy about their aquatic environment. The tank requires careful filtering and sterilization to prevent algae and other waterborne gunk from gumming up the jellyfish's works. There were too many factors. It became too hard for us to make it work properly and we decided not to move forward.