Robots Assist in Re-build of Coral Reefs
Rhonda Moniz
September 6, 2012
A team of researchers from Heriot-Watt University in Edinburgh has developed a swarm of robots to hand build-damaged coral reefs. The team of 'coralbots', each working individually to simple rules, will piece together damaged pieces of coral, allowing them to regrow. The approach is inspired by the behavior of natural swarms of insects such as bees and wasps, which collectively build substantial and complex structures. Volunteer scuba divers can help assist regrowth by reassembling coral fragments, but they are limited by the length of time they are able to stay underwater and the depths of the coral, which may be too far down for divers to reach. Swarm robots have an added benefit to the project in that they reduce the engineering requirements for extremely robust robots.