Swarm Of Robots To Rescue Corals Off The Coast Of Scotland - A Heriot-Watt University Effort

Scotland’s western coast is the home of large reef forming corals that provide shelter to thousand of species of fish and sharks. In recent times, these corals are being damaged by bottom fishing procedures. The process of restoration has always been done by volunteer scuba divers who undertake the painstaking task of diving to dangerous depths of over 200 meters and reassembling corals.

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Considering the hazardous nature of this task, Dr Lea-Anne Henry from the School of Life Sciences in partnership with Professor David Corne from the School of Mathematical and Computer Science and Dr Neil Robertson and Professor David Lane from the School of Engineering and Physical Sciences of the Heriot-Watt University of Edinburgh, Scotland have started a project to develop ‘coralbots’ which would roam in swarms on the ocean bed to monitor reefs and repair them.

The team will implement the principle of swarm robotics to integrate multiple robots to carry out the task of seeking out coral fragments and attaching them to the reef. The robots shall be trained to distinguish between corals and other sea garbage and sea creatures. A set of 'microrules' have also been prepared to govern the working of the swarm of robots.

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