Can Google's People's Choice Rangerbots Cope?

Image Rangerbots testing Great Barrier Reef Foundation

A project developed by the Great Barrier Foundation has been awarded the People's Choice Award of the Google Impact Challenge Australia 2016. They assure that their project Rangerbot is “out to save the Great Barrier from devastation”.

By the time voting closed for the Google Impact Challenge 5 million USD were awarded to 10 Australian non-profit organizations with “Big ideas for a Better World”. Two projects received People's Choice awards and grants of 750 thousand USD. The remaining three winners were chosen by the panel of Judges of the Challenge. The other winner of the People's Choice awards was Fishface of the Nature Conservancy -project that will develop game-changing technology that will protect global fish stocks, the livelihoods of coastal communities and provide a sustainable food source for billions of people.

On November 22 BBC reported that the Great Barrier Reef was reproducing. “Once a year, all the corals on Australia's legendary reef get together to reproduce,” BBC reported.

Chris Jones of the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority calls this time of the year the Great Barrier´s “Annual Sex Festival".

"It's a mass coral spawning event," Jones told the BBC.

“Jones and his colleagues were able to predict the timing of the coral spawning down to the half-hour, using knowledge of water temperatures, the moon and tides. But they may not get many more opportunities to do so. The Great Barrier Reef is in deep trouble, thanks to a host of threats - most of them man-made...When a coral dies, it turns to stone,” BBC reported.

The Great Barrier Reef Foundation agrees that the Barrier is facing many threats and has identified most of them. One of the biggest concern of the Foundation are Crown-of-Thorns Starfish. Naturally these Starfish exist and eat off corals but due to increased elements brought to the reef by run-off pollution the population numbers of these Starfish have exploded.  

“Crown-of-Thorns Starfish are responsible for 40% of the coral loss in the Great Barrier,” the Foundation says.

Invasive, intrusive and out-of-balance species impact on environments are extensively documented on land -specially for agricultural impacts as well as in water-ways and ocean environments. In the Caribbean efforts to exterminate the invasive Lionfish have been taking place for the past decades. Eradication of impacting species and plagues are often risky and very costing and demanding programs. Invasive species and plagues have mounted to millions in costs in history. But the Great Barrier Reef Foundation had a Big Idea to solve the problem and it payed off well at the Google Impact Challenge 2016 Australia -bottom line, the people loved it and Rangerbots got 750 thousand USD to take action.

So what is the idea all about? Rangerbots are designed specifically to save the Great Barrier Reef with one single job at hand, to eradicate Crown-of-Thorns-Starfish. Scientists have been working to reduce these Starfish species in the Great Barrier for several years now and usually efforts are taken on by divers. Recently scientists have developed a lethal poison to kill these starfish.

“Rangerbots hunt with 99.9% accuracy for the Crown-of-Thorns-Starfish. Completed trial testing shows it functions autonomously,” the Foundation assures.

But the project is also interesting from another perspective. Autonomous underwater technology is constantly on the edge of development and despite how much we love the human component to every project the pros of using Autonomous ROVs cannot be denied.

The Great Barrier Reef extends over 2.3 thousand kilometers and its size is bigger than that of the entire UK, Switzerland and Holland combined. 3 thousand coral reefs, 600 islands, 300 coral cays, over 1.5 thousand mangroves, exceeds over 10 times the second largest barrier reef -Belize Barrier and can even be seen from Space. So how can humans patrol and take on scientific efforts given the enormity of the area of the Great Barrier Reef?

The Great Barrier Reef Foundation has an answer to that as well. “1 diver can cover 1 kilometer of reef area in a 3 hour work period while 1 Rangerbot can cover up to 28 kilometers of reef area in 8 hours. Rangerbots can go 24-7 while divers have to take a break. 6 Human Divers could cover half the length of the reef in one year while 6 Rangerbots could cover the entire length of the reef 14 times in and out in the same year. 1 diver costs 1.44 million to operate while a fleet of 6 Rangerbots cost 720 thousand USD. Divers usually carry out single tasks while Rangerbots can measure multiple ocean measurements simultaneously,” the Foundation ends that debate.

“1 billion people depend on the reefs for food and 50% of decline in coral cover has been measured in the Great Barrier Reef in the past 30 years, 70 thousand jobs depend directly on the health of the Great Barrier Reef,” they explain what is at stake and on the table.

“This ‘Swiss army knife’-style robo reef protector, the RangerBot Autonomous Underwater Vehicle, will provide reef managers, researchers and community groups extra ‘hands and eyes’ in the water to: control pests like the Crown-Of-Thorns Starfish,monitor reef health indicators like coral bleaching and water quality, and map expansive underwater areas at scales not previously possible,” the Foundation kicks it.

The Great Barrier Reef Foundation is doing a lot more than just working Rangerbots. They have a total of 24 Research projects currently supported and 34 Corporate, Science and Government Partners.

From taking the pulse of the reef, to creating real time reef status tools to specific specie programs, coral genomes, reef mapping, cementing corals and taking on stress and UV coral studies the Foundation has its hands on almost everything Barrier like.

For them it is simple investment they say “1$+1$ = 2$”. “We have a proven track record in doubling the impact of every dollar invested in the Reef,” they reassure the global community.

With solid science and experience to back up their project they are already boosted by the funding given to them by the voters of the People's Choice Awards of the Google Impact Challenge Australia 2016.

The Great Barrier Reef Foundation presents a convincing case. Will it work? Is it the best solution? How do Rangerbots interact with other species and even in environments where there is human presence? Will the Foundation pull of the Great Starfish Barrier Free Miracle? Are the Rangerbots only putting a band aid on the problem? Shouldn't a solution be put to break runoff pollution into the Great Barrier instead? Can the Foundation cope? Many questions remain unanswered. Only time will tell.

The over 250 thousand voters which took part in the Google Impact Challenge 2016 believe the Foundation has what it takes. For them and for Google it is all the inspiration that comes when thinking about “A Better World, Faster!”