Using GPS technology and powerful thrusters, the COTSBot, is an underwater robot designed to monitor a designated area of the Great Barrier Reef and destroy the harmful crown-of-thorn starfish (COTS). The starfish are no larger than a dinner plate, but collectively have already destroyed 50 percent of the reef from Cooktown to the Whitsundays.
COTSBot uses visual recognition technology to search for the predators, and when it sees one will shoot out and lethally inject it. Its developer, Dr Matt Dunbabin of QUT, calls the robot a “force multiplier” in the fight against the starfish, as there have been multiple attempts to send divers to kill the pest, but there are not enough people.
“We need a force multiplier that is actually going to make a difference on the reef, so they can scale it up and actually try and reduce the impact that this pest is having,” Dunababin said.
Field tests of the robot have started to take place in Moreton Bay in Brisbane to refine its navigation system. While there are no crown-of-thorn starfish in Moreton Bay, the robot will be advanced there and released once its navigation is finalized.
COTSBot has been in development for 10 years; Dunababin said he had to wait for technology to catch up with the initial plan.
“We had a great vision system 10 years ago but the problem was the stuff you use to actually kill the starfish wasn't feasible,” he said. “It's only in the last year that we've been able to really hit it hard and come up with a solution that we think can really make a difference.”
Prior methods for killing COTS required up to 10 injections for each starfish, but with COTSBot it can be done quicker and more effectively.
“This system has been trained to recognize COTS from among a vast range of corals using thousands of still images of the reef and videos taken by COTS-eradicating divers,” said Dunababin.
COTSBot is expected to be ready for launch by December 2015.
Via BBC
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