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.
Screenshot
They differentiate the jellyfish from ocean water by using image processing in their onboard cameras.
Screenshot
Once jellyfish are properly targeted, the JEROS propeller spins to life and kills them.
Screenshot
- US buys 81 Soviet-era combat aircraft from Russia's ally costing on average less than $20,000 each, report says
- 2 states where home prices are falling because there are too many houses and not enough buyers
- A couple accidentally shipped their cat in an Amazon return package. It arrived safely 6 days later, hundreds of miles away.
- From heart health to detoxification: 10 reasons to eat beetroot
- Why did a NASA spacecraft suddenly start talking gibberish after more than 45 years of operation? What fixed it?
- ICICI Bank shares climb nearly 5% after Q4 earnings; mcap soars by ₹36,555.4 crore
- Markets rebound sharply on buying in bank stocks firm global trends
- Bengaluru's rental income highest in Q1-2024, Mumbai next: Anarock report