‘Artificial Gills,’ A James Bond Like Gadget Can Give You Fish-Like Abilities

By Kanika Gupta - 06 Apr '16 15:38PM

Call it a James Bond-esque device that gives you fish like abilities under water, Triton artificial gills became an instant hit on the crowdfunding website, indiegogo, as soon as they launched their campaign. However, the creators of this hyped product had to refund as much as $900,000 worth of funds for their technology being criticized as "impossible."

However, the company, based out of Stockholm is not giving up just yet. Triton refunded the previous investors and re-launched the campaign which has already raised $240,000, well above its $50,000 target.

When the product was first launched in 2013, the designer Jeabyun Yeon said that their underwater mask will work like fish gills to help obtain oxygen present in water. Even though the company said that this is just a concept, they still went ahead and launched an indiegogo campaign to release their product in the market for $300.

The campaign touted their product as the "world's first artificial gills re-breather." According to the product description, the Triton device will allow anyone to breathe underwater for up to 45 minutes at 15-feet depth, max. The design contains two arm like branches from the side of scuba mask, allowing the micro-porous hollow fiber to extract oxygen from water. This micro compressor stores the oxygen, allowing the wearers to breathe comfortably underwater. When it sounds too good to be true, it generally is.

Dr. Neal Pollock, environmental physiology research associate at Duke University, told GearJunkie that there are many flaws in the artificial gills concept. "You have to both run a lot of water through your product, and have a means to separate it," Pollock said.

"They have some kind of filter system they say works with a membrane. But what entices the oxygen to go through that membrane? The explanation is not compelling." He also told GearJunkie that it is very dangerous for anyone to reach the depths of 15-mtrs as pure oxygen at this depth can become highly toxic.