Green Options

An ecologist and an engineer at Michigan State University are working together to create robot fish that can better monitor various factors in aquatic environments.

Combining the brilliance of nature with some top-notch engineering, these two scientists are on to something and getting the funding for it.

The researchers are breaking ground with this and looking to raise water monitoring to another level.

Now that Oprah has turned her spotlight on the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, that great mass of garbage floating in the ocean has finally caught the public eye.  An upcoming ocean garbage expedition to the patch, dubbed Project Kaisei, should draw even more attention when it launches this summer.  Project Kaisei’s aim is to explore the feasibility of collecting and recycling the garbage patch, which mainly consists of plastics, into diesel fuel.  How feasible is it?  A modest derelict fishing net recycling program in Hawaii provides some tantalizing clues.

The U.S. military budget has started to tilt toward sustainability, and in part that means putting more focus on leaner, lighter aircraft, namely drones.  But as the abrupt firing of Afghanistan commander General Kiernan shows, sometimes sustainable technology is only as good as its user.  So, how much did the use of drones - which we’ll classify as robots, for our purposes - have to do with the end of a military career?

A team of UK scientists have developed a shoal of robotic fish, which will soon be released into the sea to detect water pollution.

The robots (video), shaped like Carp, will be set free off the coast of Gijon in northern Spain. If the trial proves successful, the fish could be used in rivers, lakes and seas across the world.

At the peak of the rolling blackouts in South Africa, one of the indirect consequences was an enormous snarl up in traffic flow as robots (traffic lights) went down. This significantly increased energy consumption and wasted productive time.

Yes we do call traffic lights robots in South Africa, presumably because its “A machine or device that operates automatically or by remote control”. The Department of Transport’s magazine was titled Robot until 1998 but they now seem to use Traffic Light in formal documentation.

The Central Energy Fund (CEF) of South Africa has announced a drive to install solar-powered traffic lights at critical intersections in South Africa’s major cities. The CEF foresaw an investment of R 100 million and installations at 400 intersections. This was justified by “Quantified in monetary terms, productivity losses, accidents at uncontrolled intersections, and exhaust emissions from stationary motor vehicles all have an adverse effect on the economy,”

If you’re not freaked out by the idea of a robot roaming around outside your house, you might be interested in Louisiana State University’s AgBot. The solar-powered multi-function robot can do everything from taking care of your garden to guarding your house at night.

When I think of Husqvarna, I think of chainsaws with 36″ blades that can fell large trees in a single pass. I think of 10 horsepower snow blowers that can clear a driveway in ten minutes. So when I learned that the Swedish power equipment company had developed a solar-powered lawnmower, completely eliminating the gas-powered hum created by virtually all of their products, I was intrigued.

On September 7 a robotic Prius took a cruise around San Francisco. The “Pribot” maneuvered through city and highway traffic along a 40 mile course. The only mash-up? A scrape at the Bay Bridge exit. I welcome our new vehicular overlords.

In all seriousness, if this technology were to become affordable, would you buy in? How much trust are you willing to invest in a robot, no matter how stylish? Lesser versions of this kind of technology already exist in luxury Nissan, Volvo and Lexus models. They alert a driver if the vehicle begins to drift out of its lane or even automatically make corrections. So why not take the leap and let your car tackle the morning commute? Who really wants to go through rush hour? Turns out, not the inventor.