Everybody knows that the bat has very good ears and until now scientists hadn’t been able to reproduce this technique for radars or sonars. Although there were many unsuccessful attempts, now Rolf Muller and Herbert Peremans believe that they can finally succeed.

Their idea has received $8.5 million from the European Union and this funding is part of EU’s project called CILIA. This amount should be enough to develop an advanced sonar technology using sophisticated computer modeling and robotics. The two researchers will try to unravel the secret behind the sonar system of the bat and build some antennas inspired from the freaky animal.

Rolf Muller is the possessor of about 600 ear and facial parts coming from different species of bats and he had been studying them with the help of a digital CT scanner in order to make a system that simulates the echolocation of the bats. The design of the antennas is being improved with the help of a NASA scientist.

Herbert Peremans is working on some artificial ears which are inspired from the 3D scans made by Muller. After that he will put the ears on a bat-like robot called “Robat” which will have an on-board sonar and navigation system in order to produce a range of ultrasonic pings just like the bat. Although we do not have information about the time that they will complete their research, we expect that will not very long.