These Jellyfish-Killing Robots Could Save The Fishing Industry Billions Per Year
Experts have indicated the ocean's jellyfish population is getting out of control, and this has caused problems for a variety of people and organizations.
People might get stung while at the beach, sure, but there are larger repercussions too - the Oskarshamn nuclear power plant in southeastern Sweden had to close after jellyfish clogged its pipework, and hordes of murderous jellyfish have cost the fishing industry billions of dollars in lost earnings per year.
The answer? Don't get even. Get robots.
South Korean scientist Hyun Mong, director of the Urban Robotics Lab at the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology, has designed a robotic system called "JEROS," short for "jellyfish elimination robotic swarm." JEROS is designed so teams of three can work together to collectively reduce the jellyfish population.
By tracking jellyfish and sucking them into their deadly propellers, each JEROS robot can shred just shy of one ton's worth of jellyfish per hour. This system is surprisingly more affordable than trapping the creatures in a net.
Here's a fleet of three JEROS systems at work in a bay.
They differentiate the jellyfish from ocean water by using image processing in their onboard cameras.
Once jellyfish are properly targeted, the JEROS propeller spins to life and kills them.
