Is it true that robots are the future of cleaning up after our mess? There have been countless movies made about robots in the future that will take care of our every need, provide all of our services, and even act as personal servants. For years, people have been waiting for the real C3PO, but will such a thing ever exist? Last time, I took a plunge into the world of robotics and discovered that every day, scientists are finding success in challenges that were once thought to be impossible.
One of the most recent and large-scale challenges that this country has faced on the homefront is the oil spill. The Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill which occured in the Gulf of Mexico over the summer months of 2010 is the worst oil spill in U.S. History. Countless businesses across the U.S. suffered because no one wanted to attend the beaches. Fisherman whose lives depended on the well-being of the ocean struggled to put food on thier tables.
People agree that the response from the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill took too long. After 3 months and 185 million gallons of oil later, the gushing finally stopped. However, although BP eventually stopped the bleeding, it took the effort of countless fisherman, the government, and volunteers to assist in the recovery of the Gulf Coast. The spill covered a total of 580 square miles. It was a disaster.
Obviously, someone took the initiative to never let such a catastrophe like this happen again without a quick response. Check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vruZVg6j9-I
The actual video is shown below.
Recently created by MIT, the Seaswarm is a fully-functional, eco-friendly robot that can absorb and collect oil off of the surface of the ocean. Although they are not on the market to be used commercially, they should be ready to go in about a year.
Working best in groups, the Seaswarm robots will have the ability to detect oil and communicate with the rest of the group to clean up the spill in the most efficient way possible.
The Seaswarm has a long, 5 meter conveyer belt that is made up a special material developed by MIT which they call paper towels for cleaning up oil. The Seaswarm will be able to hold up to 20 times its weight in oil. The belt propels the machine through the water, picking up oil and repelling water. Once picking up the oil, it the Seaswarm will either burn it or dispose of it in a bag to be picked up later.
Not only are these things cost effective in comparison to huge tankers trying to clean up the spill, but they are also much easier to use and require no man-hours.
According to professionals at MIT, in comparion to the 800 skimmers it took to clean up the spill, 5,000 to 10,000 Seaswarms could clean up the mess at a price of only 100 to 200 million dollars. Interestingly, the Seaswarm needs only 100 watts of power and can be used on the sea for months at a time. Also, these machines have the ability to adhere to terrible weather because of the way that the conveyer belt touches the surface of the water
These things sound pretty cool don't they?
Cheers,
Pat
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