Researchers have created an underwater robot that can find marine life on a coral reef using audio and visual clues, making it easier to explore new reefs and make important discoveries.
The team tested the autonomous underwater vehicle (AUV), which is called CUREE (Curious Underwater Robot for Ecosystem Exploration) in Joel’s Shoal in the US Virgin Islands and were excited by the results. The findings are published in the journal Science Robotics.
When the researchers used “an underwater speaker playing a recording of a healthy reef soundscape with shrimp snaps and fish vocalisations,” the robot “was able to successfully navigate to the speaker each time,” they write in the study.
The robot also tracked a barracuda for nearly 10 minutes over almost 300m. “Using a semi-supervised visual tracker, CUREE followed the barracuda for [nine minutes and 55 seconds], over which time the AUV and barracuda moved a distance of 296m over Joel’s Shoal and surrounding regions,” they write. Following the barracuda helped the researchers identify a previously unknown biodiversity hotspot.
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The scientists believe this robot will make it easier to discover “new active sites on unexplored coral reefs," adding: "The ability to quickly find and study new sites is particularly important in the face of myriad disturbances to coral reef ecosystems from natural and anthropogenic threats that can cause sweeping changes to coral reefs.”
Image and video credit: Seth McCammon
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