Georgia based engineers came up with SlothBot to monitor endangered species in forests. The robot hangs from a cable in a tree and moves in sloth’s speed. It gathers data about plants, animals, and environmental conditions. It saves energy by moving slowly and can stay active for a long time as it is powered by a solar panel.
It is favorable for long-term monitoring of a natural environment, which is usually difficult for humans to do. “Being slow and hyper-energy efficient will allow SlothBot to linger in the environment to observe things we can only see by being present continuously for months or even years,” says robotic professor Magnus Egerstedt.
The robot has to only sit on trees and measure various things in the environment. It moves only to “survive,” thereby serving the purpose of conserving energy.
The design is inspired by sloths and explores the concept of “slowness as a design paradigm.” Concerning the design of the robot, “must be understood in the environmental context in which it is to be deployed,” he says.
If the goal of a robot is to be present in a dynamic environment for a long time, then “slowness” is key for persistence for the robot to monitor tasks for this type of environment.
“I would love to see a bunch of small SlothBots “living” among the trees somewhere in a rainforest for years, providing real-time data as to what is happening to the ecosystem,” he says as another aspect of the robot to be developed shortly.
Source: Reuters