In 2008, it was the flight of the bumblebee that inspired Nissan's Biomimetic Car Robot Drive "BR23C" concept. In 2009, fish-inspired technology takes center stage in Nissan Motor Co., Ltd's new Nissan "EPORO" robot car concept, which is designed to travel in a group of like-vehicles, mimicking the behavioral patterns of a school of fish in avoiding obstacles without colliding with each other.


EPORO robot car

CEATEC JAPAN is an annual exhibition showcasing cutting-edge electronic and information technologies. Nissan is the only auto manufacturer that has been a participant in this exhibition since 2006.

So what do a bumblebee and a school of fish have in common? Both demonstrate extraordinary "anti-collision" abilities, navigating instinctively and intelligently through challenging terrain by detecting and avoiding obstacles - just as future Nissan safety vehicles may have the capability to do. But where bees - and the BR23C robot car - are likely to travel alone, the schooling behavior of fish, or a group of vehicles, presents a far greater challenge in terms of collision avoidance. In developing EPORO, three rules of fish behavior were applied to its driving control.


Generically, fish recognise the surroundings based on lateral-line sense and sense of sight and form schools based on three behavior rules. A laser range finder (ranging sensor which measures the distance to an obstacle with reflection of laser light)is used for lateral-line sense, while UWB (Ultra Wide Band: Short-distance radio communications technology that measures the position of the target and the distance to it through calculation of the time lag from transmission to reflection of the pulse signal) communications technology is utilised for the sense of sight.

Fish Behaviour Rules

AREA 1: Collision Avoidance

Change travelling direction without colliding with other fish.

AREA 2: Travelling Side-by-Side

Travel side-by-side with other fish while keeping a certain distance between each fish (to match the speed).

AREA 3: Approaching

Gain closer proximity to other fish that are at a distance from them.

"We, in a motorised world, have a lot to learn from the behavior of a school of fish in terms of each fish's degree of freedom and safety within a school and high migration efficiency of a school itself. In EPORO, we recreated the behavior of a school of fish making full use of cutting-edge electronic technologies," said Toshiyuki Andou, Manager of Nissan's Mobility Laboratory and principal engineer of the robot car project. "By sharing the surrounding information received within the group via communication, the group of EPOROs can travel safely, changing its shape as needed."

This is the world's first development of a robot car that can travel in a group by sharing the position and information of others within a group via communication technologies.

While Nissan's ongoing research aims at creating collision-free vehicles based on its safety concept "Safety Shield"*, new technologies used in EPORO also aim to improve migration efficiency of a group of vehicles and contribute to an environmentally friendly and traffic jam-free driving environment.

* Nissan's advanced and active safety concept based on the idea the vehicle that always helps protect the people from normal driving situation to after the collision. It focuses on supporting drivers not to let them face the risk