There ’s trouble brewing in the Great Barrier Reef off the coast of northeastern Australia . An underwater pestilence known as thecrown - of - thorns starfish(COTS ) is causing a immense amount of legal injury , figure to be responsible for 40 % of the reef ’s decline in coral masking .
So , to combat it , scientists from theQueensland University of Technology(QUT ) are preparing to deploy an autonomous golem sleep together as the COTSbot . This minor submersible warship , armed with cameras , five thruster and GPS , can essay out and toss off COTS , using a pneumatic limb to render a lethal injection .
What make this potential is a piece of COTS - detecting software program that has been in development for six month using thousands of range and television of the reef . This allows the golem to identify and destroy COTS among other submerged wildlife . Although the golem operates by itself in the H2O , it will take an picture of an object to be examined later by a man if it is unsure a target is a COTS .
The injection itself , developed by James Cook University ( JCU ) in Queensland , can kill a COTS with just one shot . Human divers can then come in and finish off any survivor .
At first , just one submersible is being used . It can search for eight hours , and fork out 200 lethal shots in that time . But at last , the scientists conceive of a squad of 10 to 100 scour the coral reef , working day and dark and in all weather .
Dr. Matthew Dunbabin ( front ) and Dr. Feras Dayoub are seen lower the COTSbot into the water system . Kate Haggman / Flickr .
" Human divers are doing an unbelievable job of eradicating this starfish from targeted sites but there just are n’t enough divers to deal all the COTS hotspots across the Great Barrier Reef , " Dr. Matthew Dunbabin , from QUT ’s Institute for Future Environments , said in astatement .
" We see the COTSbot as a first responder for ongoing obliteration course of study – deployed to eliminate the bulk of COTS in any area , with divers following a few days later to arrive at the remaining COTS . "
The automaton fill out its first sea trials this week in Queensland ’s Moreton Bay , testing its mechanical parts and navigation system . It will begin dynamic tryout in the Great Barrier Reef later this month , with a human helping to identify each COTS at first . Ultimately , the team trust for it to be working autonomously by December .
