First time on land? Terranaut, the robotic exploration vehicle art project by Seth Weiner, is definitely the way to go.
(Terranaut robotic vehicle helps fish explore land)
A Blood Parrot fish gets his first taste of life on land, wheeling around in this luxurious fishbowl-on-wheels. Here's how it works: a camera mounted above the tank captures a stream of images. This information is worked over by the onboard computer. Finally, the direction of motion is determined and the wheels move in the direction that the fish is swimming (see video).
Very cool project. Thinking in a science-fictional frame of mind (which I do a lot), I'm thinking about helpful aliens coming to Earth about 500 million years ago, and giving Earth fish of the Cambrian period the kind of on-land experience that pointed the way for all of us air-breathers and land-walkers that came later...
I love giving the "lower" species this kind of enriching experience. See the Cockroach-Controlled Mobile Robot created by Garnet Hertz for another terrific example.
Thanks to Armchair Anarchist for the tip on this story.
(This Science Fiction in the News story used with permission from Technovelgy.com - where science meets fiction.)
