Robots Culling Lionfish

[Sea Save Foundation]

In Bermuda, a new robot has been unveiled that stuns and captures lionfish at depths that humans can’t dive. “Robots in Service of the Environment” was founded in 2015 to solve the lionfish problem. Lionfish are native to the Pacific and Indian Oceans, but have been introduced to the Atlantic and Caribbean where they are decimating fish from local coral reefs. They eat all the native fish, who do not fear the invader, and they reproduce at a rapid rate. They have no natural predators in those locations. Read more

 

[iamrushman]

"The robot is about three and a half feet long and about 20 pounds, Hoffman said. It is equipped with a camera and controlled by a digital tablet operated at the surface. The robot is designed for now to collect up to 10 lionfish on each dive and does so by stunning the fish with a charge generated by two 14-inch, low-voltage electrical probes."

wow...very cool...thanks for sharing the information.

 

[drrich2]

Reads like the goal is economical commercial fishing, as well as eliminating the invasive predator, which answers my question about 'why capture them?'

Richard.

 

[Rred]

"controlled by a digital tablet operated at the surface."
So it is really a waldo, a remotely operated manipulator, since it is not intelligent, not autonomous, and requires a live human to be working it.
At best, a drone. No, wait, those are cordless.(G)