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Autonomous killer drones begin patrolling the Great Barrier Reef
cnet ^

Posted on 09/04/2018 7:52:27 PM PDT by BenLurkin

The starfish feeds on native coral that call the reef home -- and they are key to the reef's ecology. No coral, no reef and so the starfish must be destroyed.

In 2015, researchers at the Queensland University of Technology (QUT) unveiled the technology known as the Crown-Of-Thorns Starfish robot (COTSbot) to deal with the threat. When deployed, the autonomous robot was able to seek out crown-of-thorns starfish (with 99 percent accuracy) and inject them with a chemical cocktail that causes them to break out in nasty blisters and eventually die.

Now, that same research team has unveiled RangerBot, the latest iteration on that idea. The yellow underwater drone looks kind of like a tiny fluorescent whale shark with thrusters instead of fins. It has been called a "Swiss army knife" because along with controlling the starfish populations, it can monitor the reef for health indicators and map underwater areas, working for up to eight hours each day.

Compared with human divers performing the same task, the RangerBot is cheaper, more efficient and able to operate at all hours of the day and night.

"We also spent a lot of time getting the user interface as simple to use as possible so that as many of our stakeholders (from researchers, management authorities and school children) could potentially operate it with a small amount of training."

(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...


TOPICS: Computers/Internet; Weird Stuff
KEYWORDS: autonomous; drones; greatbarrierreef; killer
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1 posted on 09/04/2018 7:52:27 PM PDT by BenLurkin
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To: BenLurkin

Crazy ...


2 posted on 09/04/2018 7:53:52 PM PDT by 11th_VA
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To: 11th_VA

We need an equivalent for the Southern Border....


3 posted on 09/04/2018 7:54:41 PM PDT by Paladin2
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To: Paladin2

Screw that. Go to D.C. and seek out and destroy liberals. I know that 90% of the population would be wiped out, but no real loss.


4 posted on 09/04/2018 7:59:44 PM PDT by Bommer (Help out 2ndDivisionVet and his wife - https://www.gofundme.com/married-recent-amputees)
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To: BenLurkin

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lbg-tQ6FJgQ

Any person who believes in killing one of God’s most awesome creatures cannot be trusted, nor believed!


5 posted on 09/04/2018 7:59:56 PM PDT by heterosupremacist (Resistance to tyrants is obedience to God.)
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To: All

6 posted on 09/04/2018 8:08:38 PM PDT by LegendHasIt
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To: heterosupremacist

They are talking about a crown-of-thorns starfish, not just any old starfish. This is a very specific and deadly species. It invaded the Depapre reef on the northeast shore of Papua, Indonesia and darn near wiped it out completely. Very little coral is left compared to what it was previously.

It is an awful type of starfish and should be killed.


7 posted on 09/04/2018 8:11:23 PM PDT by Jemian (War Eagle!)
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To: BenLurkin
When deployed, the autonomous robot was able to seek out crown-of-thorns starfish (with 99 percent accuracy) and inject them with a chemical cocktail that causes them to break out in nasty blisters and eventually die.

The KGB of sea world.

8 posted on 09/04/2018 8:12:30 PM PDT by TADSLOS (Are you Humbly Grateful or Grumbly Hateful?)
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To: TADSLOS
"...it can monitor the reef for health indicators and map underwater areas, working for up to eight hours each day."

"Compared with human divers performing the same task, the Rangerbot is cheaper, more efficient and able to operate at all hours of the day and night."

So why does it only operate 8hrs of the total possible hours it could function? Must be a Union or something here.

9 posted on 09/04/2018 8:30:56 PM PDT by Tuketu (The i(D)iot Platform is splinters bound by crazy glue. TRUMP is the solvent.)
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To: BenLurkin
What could possibly go wrong?


10 posted on 09/04/2018 8:34:16 PM PDT by KarlInOhio (Leave the job, leave the clearance. It should be the same rule for the Swamp as for everyone else.)
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To: Tuketu

Probably because of “battery limitations”. Deploy more and give them an underwater wireless/contact pad recharge station and they could get 24/7 coverage.


11 posted on 09/04/2018 8:35:50 PM PDT by Drago
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To: BenLurkin

Wait a minute: You mean that the “melting” Starfish the enviroweanies were crying over last year, using them as evidence of irreversible damage to the Pacific ecosystem, should now be wiped out because they work to destroy coral?

I sense an analogy to lefty progs...the country would grow like coral without them.


12 posted on 09/04/2018 8:38:33 PM PDT by logi_cal869 (-cynicus-)
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To: BenLurkin

Can it be programmed to deal with Democrats, under water or on land?


13 posted on 09/04/2018 9:04:35 PM PDT by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: BenLurkin
Autonomous hunter-killer drones. Where have I heard that before?
14 posted on 09/05/2018 3:28:12 AM PDT by Hugin
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To: Tuketu

Maybe the batteries need recharging after 8 hours, but they can use it anytime of day or night.


15 posted on 09/05/2018 3:31:21 AM PDT by Hugin
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To: heterosupremacist

So abortionists and their enablers cannot be trusted, nor believed.


16 posted on 09/05/2018 4:17:35 AM PDT by kaintucky
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To: Hugin
Autonomous hunter-killer drones. Where have I heard that before?

Hmmm...


17 posted on 09/05/2018 4:48:35 AM PDT by rjsimmon (The Tree of Liberty Thirsts)
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To: BenLurkin
"and inject them with a chemical cocktail that causes them to break out in nasty blisters and eventually die."

Seriously? What could go wrong?

In other Queensland news tonight, dolphins dining on starfish have been washing up along the coast with their bodies covered in nasty blisters. Officials are warning the public to avoid swimming in the ocean until scientists can determine if humans are susceptible...

18 posted on 09/05/2018 5:23:23 AM PDT by Hatteras
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To: Jemian

Know what’s crazy?

Yesterday I read an article in a company publication from 35 years ago decrying the Crown of Thorns Starfish and its depredations on the Great Barrier Reef.

But but but...I thought it was all due to global warming!


19 posted on 09/05/2018 5:32:41 AM PDT by T-Bone Texan (I posit that there IS something left worth fighting for.)
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To: BenLurkin

Shouldn’t we be letting nature settle itself? I wasn’t aware that survival of the fittest needed human oversight and judgement calls.


20 posted on 09/05/2018 5:48:18 AM PDT by VaeVictis (~Woe to the Conquered~)
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