Kids play with Delle the animatronic Dolphin during the launch event organized by Peta.

In an event organized by PETA where children could meet and greet a robotic dolphin which looks and feels like a real one, a group of excited kids met and swam with the animatronic marine mammal.

With Delle’s first meet-and-greet, Edge Innovations has taken the future of animal-friendly marine parks to the next level: These kids were able to learn more about highly intelligent dolphins, and no one had to be confined to a barren concrete tank, limited to swimming in small circles, or used as a breeding machine.

Torn away from their families and kept in small, prison-like pools, dolphins are harmed by programs that allow humans to swim with them.

 The animatronic dolphin is designed by Edge Inovations with the goal of replacing animals kept in captivity in marine parks.

But what if you could experience swimming with them without the harm?

A first-of-its-kind robotic dolphin could make all our dreams—most importantly, those of dolphins—come true.

In marine parks such as SeaWorld, highly intelligent, far-ranging dolphins are forced to swim in circles in small, chemically treated tanks and are used as breeding machines to create generations of captive animals.

Unwilling female dolphins are dragged out of the water and forcibly impregnated, sometimes after being drugged so that they can’t fight back.

 Unwilling female dolphins are dragged out of the water and forcibly impregnated, sometimes after being drugged so that they can’t fight back.

Some endure this process repeatedly, only to have their babies die or be shipped to other SeaWorld parks.