Communications of the ACM
'SlothBot in the Garden' Demonstrates Hyper-Efficient Conservation Robot
Georgia Institute of Technology engineers have built a solar-powered robot to help conserve endangered species.
Credit: Rob Felt/Georgia Tech
Georgia Institute of Technology (Georgia Tech) engineers have built a robot designed to help conserve endangered species, which they will test this summer at the Atlanta Botanical Garden.
SlothBot will monitor animals, plants, and the environment as it moves along a cable strung between two trees near the Garden's Canopy Walk.
The robot is powered by solar panels, and its slow and hyper-energy efficient operation—mimicking the slow lifestyle of real sloths—will enable continuous monitoring for months or even years.
Slothbot only moves when necessary, and will find sunlight to recharge its batteries; in larger environmental deployments, SlothBot can move from cable to cable to cover more territory.
The Garden's Emily Coffey said, "SlothBot could do some of our research remotely and help us understand what's happening with pollinators, interactions between plants and animals, and other phenomena that are difficult to observe otherwise."
From Georgia Tech News Center
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