Reef repair

Swarms of Coralbots are coming

Here's a worthwhile project for the planet.

Coralbots is a group of projects to build a team of aquatic robots to patrol the coral reef.  Reefs around the world have suffered substantial damage through storms and through totally avoidable human abuse - bomb testing, destructive fishing, coral removed for tourist souvenirs, you name it.

Currently they're trying to raise the necessary cash by crowd-funding the project on Kickstarter.

Swarms of Coralbots will hopefully be deployed to patrol the reef looking for areas that have been depleted.  The bots will transplant healthy clumps of coral where it's needed most.  The best thing about all of this is that the bots are programmed to recognise the damage and to sort it out without relying on a human being to issue instructions.  I have visions of these aquatic robot gardeners tirelessly cruising the reef picking up a piece here and replacing it there . . . wonderful.

Deployment of these marine gardeners brings great hope for the fragile economies of many island nations.  Without the benefit of a healthy reef these often poor communities suffer severe impacts on their livelihood with heavily depleted fish stocks and reduced opportunities for tourism.  Bringing back the reef could have major benefits for such communities.

Nessie-4 will repair coral reef off Belize   

This is an area of robotics that's particularly exciting.  These bots will be operating in environments that are difficult and dangerous for humans and they will have much better endurance.

They've already done a lot of field testing with these robots so they are pretty confident that they have the reliability of the technology sorted.

No doubt this is just one example of where advanced robotics and artificial intelligence will be deployed in the near future.  Good luck to them and bon voyage!

Coral-bot robot

Stories about the Coralbots 

Coralbots with swarm intelligence (TheVerge)

Repairing Scottish reef (BBC)

A step closer to reality for Coralbots (Inhabitat)

Coralbots Facebook presence

Next10 and exploiting the oceans

The Next 10 Years: Exploiting the oceans

What is this technology?

Again this is not a single technology but a convergence of many interconnected technologies and processes.

What will happen?

Man has been dipping his toe in the world's oceans for hundreds of years but is now venturing into the deepest depths using devices more akin to those we send into outer space.

Deep sea exploration will continue - of that there is little doubt.  With 70% of our world covered by water we still know so little about what is out there in the blue beyond.

Miracle cures from the ocean?

The creatures we find in the most inhospitable places hold secrets that science can use to create curative compounds, thermally improved and pressure resistant materials.

The ability to reach the deep ocean floor will open up opportunities to mine precious metals, harvest fossil fuel deposits to replenish or dwindling supplies.

Commercial and scientific organisations will come together to construct deep sea laboratories and mining facilities.  Workers will be expected to live for extensive periods at the bottom of the oceans, protected by the strongest structures that man has ever built.

How will this impact society?

Underwater laboratory

Exploitation of this last great frontier will present myriad ethical issues for governments of the world.  Who owns the deep sea, what international protection can be used to ensure that big business is not allowed to rape the sea in the way that fishing fleets have?

The study of the strange creatures that are still to be discovered in the deep ocean may reveal answers to how organic life can overcome the odds and survive in the coldest, darkest, bone-crushingly pressurised parts of our world.

What supports this prediction?

The race to the bottom of the world

Creatures from the deep (Te Ara encylopaedia)

The Aquarius underwater laboratory (NOAA)