COTSBot

COTSBot is a small autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV) 4.5 feet (1.4 m) long, which is designed by Queensland University of Technology (QUT) to kill the very destructive crown-of-thorns starfish (Acanthaster planci) in the Great Barrier Reef off the north-east coast of Australia. It identifies its target using an image-analyzing neural net to analyze what an onboard camera sees, and then lethally injects the starfish with a bile salt solution using a needle on the end of a long underslung foldable arm.[1]

COTSBot uses GPS to navigate.[2][3][4] The first version was created in the early 2000s with an accuracy rate of about 65%. After training COTSBot with machine learning, its accuracy rate rose to 99% by 2019.[1]

COTSBot is capable of killing 200 crown-of-thorns starfish with its two liters capacity of poison. COTSBot is capable of performing about 20 runs per day, but multiple COTSBots will be necessary to significantly impact the crown of thorns starfish populations.[1]

A smaller version of COTSBot called "RangerBot" is also being developed by QUT.[5]

References

1. Zeldovich, Lina (11 April 2019). "Underwater Drone Hunts Coral-Eating Crown-of-Thorns Starfish". American Society of Mechanical Engineers. Archived from the original on 11 November 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
2. McLeish, Kathy (31 August 2015). "New robot aims to terminate crown-of-thorns starfish threatening reef". ABC News. Archived from the original on 8 November 2020. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
3. Frisch, Iran (14 April 2016). "The Great Barrier Reef's Best Hope is a Killer Robot". Wired. Archived from the original on 24 July 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
4. Platt, John R. (1 January 2016). "A Starfish-Killing, Artificially Intelligent Robot Is Set to Patrol the Great Barrier Reef". Scientific American. Vol. 314, no. 1. p. 16. doi:10.1038/scientificamerican0116-16. PMID 26887184. Archived from the original on 11 November 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.
5. Braun, Ashley (30 August 2018). "RangerBot: Programmed to Kill". Hakai Magazine. Archived from the original on 19 July 2024. Retrieved 11 November 2024.