Every attempt I ever made at fishing resulted in temper tantrums and tangled lines, but I can see the appeal of getting out in the open air. I’m therefore a little sceptical about Robofisher, a new web based service that takes angling indoors.

The platform enables users to purchase “fishing” hours at a tranquil lake in Romania. Starting at $9.99, users can spend ten minutes controlling a robot, rigged with fishing rods and loaded with bait and float. Users control the depth and how far out their bait is set, and when they think they have a catch, they can pull up the fish into a net. The whole scene can be viewed via two different camera angles in real-time.

Perhaps there’s a market for this amongst people who can’t get to a regular fishing spot through health or disability issues. Or maybe it will appeal to the terminally idle. It’s an interesting idea though and poses the question of whether there are other essentially outdoor activities that can be brought into peoples living rooms through the power of technology.

Website: www.robofisher.com