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Robots to start killing crown-of-thorns starfish on Great Barrier Reef
- carroccio 8y agoOld, 2015
- astdb 8y agoRangerBot is an advanced version of the 2015 robot, with a newer submersible design, handheld remote-control and computer vision to identify invasive species. "In 2015, an early prototype of the robot "COTSbot" made international news. Now its successor the RangerBot is significantly more advanced. The RangerBot is equipped with a vision system that allows it to "see" underwater while being operated using a tablet. QUT Professor Matt Dunbabin said the robot used real-time vision to navigate and identify starfish."
- nfrankel 8y ago> The starfish is recognised as one of three major threats to the World Heritage-listed Great Barrier Reef, along with coral bleaching and cyclone damage. Of course, it's easier to kill something than to tackle global warming...
- CannisterFlux 8y agoThe theory of the starfish population growth is that increased nutrients in the sea from increased land run off is the cause, since it allows more of the baby starfish to survive. So agriculture is probably to blame this time rather than global warming, but the sentiment is the same. Fix the symptoms as it's easier than tackling the cause.
- pohl 8y agoSkynet will eventually recognize humans as a threat to the Great Barrier Reef.
- devoply 8y agoIf we build robots that can destroy, those robots will ultimately not be under the control of governments, but instead corporations. Eventually those corporations will wrestle control out of the hands of governments through hard power. There won't be much that can stop them.
- pawelmurias 8y agoNice try starfish
- devoply 8y agoFirst they came for the starfish, but I didn't say anything because I was not a starfish.
- chewz 8y agoI hope that those robot will eventually evolve enough to determine that it is homo sapiens that is at the root of the problem.
- jameskegel 8y agoWhat a worthless and juvenile statement.
- gonzo41 8y agoNot really, considering we have a PM in Australia who held up a lump of coal in parliament as a solution to power prices.
- r3bl 8y agoSame guy that said that math laws don't apply to Australia?
- dang 8y agoThe site guidelines ask you not to call names and not to reply to egregious comments, but rather flag them. If you'd review https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and follow the rules when posting here, we'd appreciate it.
- krylon 8y agoAlternatively, the robots might decide that it is easier to just destroy the reef than to take out the starfish individually. With the reef gone, the starfish starve, problem solved. There is more than one way for technology to backfire horribly.
- radmuzom 8y agoSomething along these lines happens in the Mass Effect video game series. If you like playing games, you should definitely check it out.
- Broken_Hippo 8y agoYes, but: Tackling global warming (or agricultural runoff) takes a bit of time and sometimes seems impossible since some folks seriously resist these things. In the meantime, these killing robots still have their place in helping the reef survive. If you have the means to tackle on of the three major threats now, by all means, please do.
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- trexen 8y agoThe barrier reef is thousands of kilometres long. That's a lot of robots.
- goldenkey 8y agoJust seems foolish to kill them just for living. If starfish are successful, why don't we just find a way to eat their delicious starmeat? I for one would love to goto a seafood star bar. Get my bib on and chow down.
- rdl 8y agoWe tried this with lionfish in the Caribbean; it is just really challenging to catch them in a non-destructive way so they are economically viable. And IMO they don’t taste very good unless fried, at which point everything tastes the same.
- oh_sigh 8y agoThere's always animal feed, or to be used for fat or protein isolates
- rdl 8y agoYes, but sending a human scuba diver down 3h/day to catch max 20kg of lionfish for $50-100 on loaded cost per dive, or $150-300/day is...not an efficient solution for that. If the fish could be sold at enough of a premium it might defray some of those costs, but for animal feed you'd be about $0.50/kg.
- cflyingdutchman 8y agoWas wondering if this robot could kill lionfish as well.
- TheGrassyKnoll 8y agoFire, the wheel, duct tape, and now another human milestone: killer robots...
- sametmax 8y agoDestroy, move, fix, destroy. Full circle.
- kalla 8y agoReminds me of another short-sighted killing spree that resulted in upsetting the ecological balance. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_Campaign https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_Pests_Campaign I wonder who approved this one and what research they read that led them to believe that this can be good in the long term.
- lotophage 8y agoCrown of Thorns is an invasive species. It's not indigenous to the area.
- abecedarius 8y agoAnd robots are not yet self-replicators. If this is a bad idea, it's at least bad in a new way, right?
- mrfusion 8y agoBut who’s to say what species belong where? Seems like we’re micromanaging nature.
- krylon 8y agoIn school, we once had a biology test about the Spanish (English?) importing rats to some Caribbean island by accident which then ate all the sugar cane they planted. So they deliberately introduced a kind of snake to eat the rats. But the rats and the snakes both wreaked havoc among indigenous species; also, the snakes started biting the slaves working in the plantations to the point where the slaves refused to work. So they introduced another animal (mongoose?)to eat the snakes, which sort-of worked, but these animals also went to town on some other indigenous species. In the end, they got their sugar cane, but the indigenous ecosystem was damaged heavily. Sorry I am so fuzzy on the details, that test was about 19-20 years ago... At least the colonial powers of their time had the excuse of not knowing any better.
- liftbigweights 8y agoAny headline beginning with "Robots ready to start killing..." really is unnerving.
- londons_explore 8y agoIsn't the great barrier reef about to get wiped out by global warming anyway? Might as well let the starfish have at it.
- dang 8y agoPlease don't post unsubstantive comments here.
- er0l 8y agohttps://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0041-2 https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-018-0041-2 I'm assuming OP's referring to the bleaching caused by global warming. 2016 event killed off 29% of the coral there.
- dang 8y agoA comment can be about that and still be unsubstantive. Flippant comments on large-topics tend to be trollish, and that one was over the line.