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Scientists Develop Killer Robots That Inject Poison Into Coral Munching Starfish

posted by janrinok on Wednesday September 09 2015, @03:27AM   Printer-friendly
from the needle-match dept.

Sir Finkus writes:

Scientists hoping to preserve coral reefs have developed an autonomous submarine to help control populations of crown-of-thorns sea stars. The sea stars devour coral at alarming rates, and are surprisingly hardy. Missing limbs simply regrow after being removed, so scuba divers have had to resort to injecting the starfish with poison up to 10 times each.

The autonomous robot can stay underwater for up to six hours, and uses a new poison that requires only one injection. The robot identifies the sea stars using a sophisticated image processing algorithm. The new poison is allegedly harmless to other sea creatures.

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  • (Score: 2) by c0lo on Wednesday September 09 2015, @05:31AM

    by c0lo (156) on Wednesday September 09 2015, @05:31AM (#234096) Journal

    I'm betting the divers with an injection stick could do far more injections per hour than the robot, using the new poison.

    Which, you see, is a problem. A biiig problem...
    the way you suggest, it is the divers who will get paid and stayed employed instead of the corporation that builds those subs.

    Why do you hate progress?
    (cynical grin)

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