Humans and Robots Team up to Save Great Barrier Reef

Just when you were freaking out that robots will one day turn on the human race and gruesomely murder us all, it’s reassuring to know that some are on our side… for the time being.

Queensland based researchers have revealed they’re putting the finishing touches on a robot that will target the one greatest threats to the beautiful Great Barrier Reef, the Crown-of-thorns Starfish. This pesky son of bitch has been eating away at the reef’s coral over the past 11 years and has destroyed almost 40%.

Conservation’s new pin-up boy, also known as COTSbot will target the starfish using GPS and revolutionary recognition technology. Through a robotic arm, it will then inject bile salts, killing the spikey creatures and eradicating the predators from the reef. This is a huge development in tackling the problem as currently, the only way to stop the Crown-of-thorns spreading is by using a team of divers to manually inject them.

The Queensland University of Technology team behind the innovation, led by Dr Matt Dunbabin has been developing the new technology for up to 10 years but should now be ready to take on the starfish by December. While little is being done to save one of Australia’s greatest tourist attraction on a national scale, this development will hopefully allow the colourful reef to flourish once again.

At least if COTSbot turns on us with it’s salt injecting capabilities, we’ll probably find some use for it in the checkout line for hot chips at the footy.