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 ...
Crazy ...
We need an equivalent for the Southern Border....
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.
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!
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.
The KGB of sea world.
"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.
Probably because of “battery limitations”. Deploy more and give them an underwater wireless/contact pad recharge station and they could get 24/7 coverage.
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.
Can it be programmed to deal with Democrats, under water or on land?
Maybe the batteries need recharging after 8 hours, but they can use it anytime of day or night.
So abortionists and their enablers cannot be trusted, nor believed.
Hmmm...
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...
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!
Shouldn’t we be letting nature settle itself? I wasn’t aware that survival of the fittest needed human oversight and judgement calls.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.