A Farmer-Assistant Robot for Nitrogen Fertilizing Management of Greenhouse Crops Computers and Electronics in AgricultureJournal, June 2017 Product: Nitrogen Fertilization Robot Environmental Impact: Improve nitrogen fertilization efficiency in greenhouse crops Planetary Boundary: Biochemical Flows Keywords: Autonomous machine vision-based system, Nitrogen fertilizing management, Image processing, Image textural features, Biochemical flows, Chemical pollution, Ground robotics, Preventive solution Description: This autonomous robotic system was developed for precise nitrogen fertilization for greenhouse crops (e.g. tomatoes, lettuce, peppers). The system was tested using a machine vision-based scenario and was found to be able to decrease the crops’ nitrogen fertilizer consumption by about 18%.
Atmospheric Air Pollution Monitoring using Flying Robots IOE Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, October 2020 Product: Air Quality Recording Drone Environmental Impact: Detects and records pollutants in the air Planetary Boundary: Atmospheric Particle Pollution Keywords: Flying robotic equipment; Mobile gas analyzers; Atmospheric Particle Pollution; UAV; Drone; Responsive solution. Description: The study conducted and described in this report focuses on detecting air pollution with a given accuracy using a mobile instrument platform (MIP) with an onboard gas analyzer. In the end, the paper proposes an algorithm for determining the coordinates of a CO concentration source using the MIP.
Automated Robotic Assay of Phosphomonoesterase Activity in Soils Soil Science Society of America Journal, 01 March 2006 Product: Automated Testing Robot Environmental Impact: Monitoring and recording chemicals within the soil Planetary Boundary: Biochemical Flows Keywords: Zymark XP laboratory robotic system, Phosphomonoesterase measurement, Biochemical Flows, Ground robotics, Preventive solution Description: This study found that using a robotic system for measuring phosphomonoesterase activity in soils differing in physical and chemical characteristics was comparable in both accuracy and precision to manual procedures, yet the robotic system resulted in considerable savings in cost and labor.
Autonomous Monitoring, Analysis, and Countering of Air Pollution using Environmental Drones Heliyon Journal, January 2020 Product: Pollution Measuring Drone Environmental Impact: Measures pollution concentration in the atmosphere Planetary Boundary: Atmospheric Particle Pollution Keywords: Automatic air pollution monitoring, and measurement, Pollution abatement, Air quality health index, Atmospheric Particle Pollution, Aerial robotics, UAV, Drone, Preventive solution, Responsive solution Description: This paper investigates large-scale air pollution elimination; Environmental Drones (or E-drones) can autonomously monitor the air quality of a specified location. If they detect that there are pollutants above the recommended threshold, the E-drones then implement “on-board pollution abatement solutions” for those pollutants.
Developing an Intelligent Waste Sorting System with Robotic Arm: A Step towards Green Environment IEEE International Conference on Innovation in Engineering and Technology, December 2018 Product: Waste Sorting Robot Environmental Impact: Increase efficiency during the waste sorting process Planetary Boundary: N/A Keywords:Robotic waste sorting; Waste management system; Waste categorization; Industrial robotics; Preventive solution Description: Information and Communication Technology (ICT) can be used to improve waste management and sorting, with preliminary results of an experiment in Bangladesh yielding an 82% accuracy rate in categorizing and sorting 11 objects of separate types and sizes.
Reducing Air Pollution with hybrid-powered Robotic Tractors for Precision Agriculture Biosystems Engineering Journal, March 2016 Product: Farming Assistant Robot Environmental Impact: Reduces carbon emissions from the farming process Planetary Boundary: Climate Change Keywords: Robotic tractor, Precision agriculture, Atmospheric emission, Atmospheric air pollution, Ground robotics, Preventive solution Description: The emissions from robotic tractors with a hybrid energy system for precision weed and pest control were compared with those from tractors with a combustion engine as a single power source. The hybrid energy system was designed by adapting the original energy systems of the tractors to reduce atmospheric pollution emissions. The results of the study found that the hybrid system reduced emissions by 50% in the best case.
Robotic Detection of Marine Litter Using Deep Visual Detection Models IEEE International Conference on Robotics and Automation, May 2019 Product: Oceanic Trash Collecting Robot Environmental Impact: Reducing oceanic trach Planetary Boundary: Freshwater Use Keywords: Marine litter, Underwater trash removal, robotic detection, AUV, Freshwater Use, Marine Robotics, Preventive Solution Description: Using autonomous underwater vehicles (AUVs) to locate and remove marine trash may reduce oceanic pollution. This paper evaluates deep-learning algorithms put to the task of detecting trash in underwater environments. The paper provides insights into approaches for future trash removal AUVs.
Robotic Environmental DNA Bio-Surveillance of Freshwater Health Scientific Report Journal, September 2020 Product: Water Sampling Robot Environmental Impact: Monitoring the levels of biochemicals in the water Planetary Boundary: Ocean Acidification, Freshwater Use Keywords: Ocean monitoring, Marine environment, Oceanic data collection, Water samples, Freshwater Use, Marine Robotics, Autonomous underwater vehicle, Preventive solution Description: Autonomous water sampling technologies could help to monitor biological threats to freshwater ecosystems as well as filter and preserve the captured material once identified. Originally adapted from a marine environmental sample processor (ESP), this experiment found that this device was as effective as manual sampling methods.
Aspects Concerning the Optimal Development of Robotic Systems Architecture for Waste Sorting Tasks IOP Conference Series: Materials Science and Engineering, 2018 Product: Waste Sorting Robot Environmental Impact: Help streamline waste sorting processes Planetary Boundary: N/A Keywords: Autonomous machine vision-based system, Robotic waste sorting, Industrial robotics, Preventive solution Description: Robotics combined with advanced recognition software is expected to significantly increase the sorting efficiency of some waste streams and replace or complement the labor in manual sorting. This paper discusses the optimal performance criteria of these robotic systems and findings based on an optimization algorithm for the best system architecture.
Robotic Pick-and-Toss Facilitates Urban Waste Sorting IEEE 16th International Conference on Automation Science and Engineering (CASE), August 2020 Product: Waste Sorting Robot Environmental Impact: Increases the efficiency of waste sorting Planetary Boundary: N/A Keywords: Waste handling; Waste management system; Waste Sorting; Pick-and-place process; Pick-and-toss approach; Industrial robotics; Preventive solution Description: Delta robots, or “pick and toss” robots may be able to replace the traditional “pick and place” robots that are currently used with waste sorting. This study compared the two sorting methods in both simulation and reality using an ABB-IRB360 Delta robot and found that the Delta robot sorted items more quickly than the pick-and-place system.
Vision-Based Robotic System for On-Site Construction and Demolition Waste Sorting and Recycling Journal of Building Engineering, August 2020 Product: Waste Sorting Robot Environmental Impact: Makes the recycling process more efficient Planetary Boundary: N/A Keywords: Construction, and demolition waste (CDW), CDW management, CDW recycling, Waste Sorting, Soil pollution, landfills, Autonomous mobile robots, Ground robotics Description: Prototype pick-and-place system for sorting irregular construction and demolition waste (CDW) using “instance segmentation on uneven surfaces” and SLAM. This is a new solution for picking and sorting CDW, and it was proven to be effective and efficient through practical experiments.
Using UAV-Based Systems to Monitor Air Pollution in Areas with Poor Accessibility Journal of Advanced Transportation, August 2017 Product: Pollution Measuring Drone Environmental Impact: Monitors levels of atmospheric particle pollution Planetary Boundary: Atmospheric Particle Pollution Keywords: Automatic air pollution monitoring, and measurement, Air pollution detection, Atmospheric particle pollution, Aerial robotics, UAV, Drone; Preventive solution Description: Proposes an algorithm to autonomously guide UAVs equipped with off-the-shelf sensors to perform air pollution monitoring tasks. The results of this research demonstrate that the algorithm drives the UAV to construct pollution maps focusing on areas where there is a higher concentration of pollutants, making the creation of these maps faster than similar strategies.
Row-bot: An energetically autonomous artificial water boatman IEEE/RSJ International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems (IROS), December 2015 Product: Marine Robot Environmental Impact: Reduce carbon emissions Planetary Boundary: Climate Change, Ocean Acidification Keywords: Biomimetics, Marine Control, Microbial fuel cells, Bio-inspired actuation, MFC-powered swimming robot, Water boatman beetle, Ocean cleaning, Ocean acidification, Freshwater Use, Marine Robotics Description: This research paper presents a design for an energetically autonomous artificial organism that demonstrates the anabolic, propulsive, and feeding mechanisms of an artificial, water boatman-inspired organism marine robot. The work is the demonstration of energetically autonomy in a microbial fuel cell (MFC)-powered, swimming robot taking energy from its surrounding aqueous environment. The energy generated has been shown to exceed the energy required to refuel. Biomimicry of the water boatman beetle has driven key design features resulting in system optimization including morphology to suit the drag profile required for power and recovery propulsion phases and combined floatation and oxygen supply.
The Starfish Terminator The American Society of Mechanical Engineers, October 2018 Product: Underwater Animal Capturing Robot Environmental Impact: Reduces the number of Crown-Of-Thorn Starfish in the Great Barrier Reef Planetary Boundary: Biodiversity Loss Keywords: Marine disasters, Coral reef, Crown-of-thrones starfish, Biodiversity loss, Marine Robotics, Autonomous underwater vehicle, Responsive solution Description: COTS is instead an autonomous underwater robot equipped with artificial intelligence software, built by Matthew Dunbabin and Feras Dayoub, who study and build autonomous systems at the Institute for Future Environments at the Queensland University of Technology in Brisbane, Australia. Dunbabin and Dayoub built it to help fight one of the biggest marine disasters in progress—an outbreak of crown-of-thorns starfish, the voracious coral-eating organisms that are decimating the Great Barrier Reef faster than it can rebuild itself.