'Fish on Wheels' Lets Your Goldfish Walk Itself Around the Room

Designers in the Netherlands have cobbled together a machine that lets a fish motor itself around the room.

The project, which you can view in action in the video above, looks a lot like a remote control car with a small fish tank on top. A webcam onboard detects the position of the fish in the tank, sending a signal to the remote control car that changes the vehicle’s direction based on the direction the fish is swimming.

So the fish swims one way and the car immediately follows, essentially taking it precisely where the fish was looking to go. The result is a sort of automatic hamster ball for fish, allowing it to cruise around your floor without getting too far.

Hey, it beats swimming in circles.

The Dutch designers at the firm Studio diip called the project Fish on Wheels — which we’re going to pretend is a sly nod to the work of Belle and Sebastian until we hear otherwise. You can read more about their work here.

Yahoo Tech is a brand new tech site from David Pogue and an all-star team of writers. Follow us on Facebook for all the latest.