Carnegie Mellon University’s Robotic Institute developed a fleet of autonomous airboats, disguised to look like crocodiles. The purpose of this venture was to help scientists measure water quality this spring in the Mara River in Kenya. Approximately 4,000 hippos use the river as a toilet, which brings potentially deadly effects to the fish living down river. The airboats skimmed the river bottom for hippo dung and made measurements of water quality. While you will not catch any humans in this river, the animals were tolerant of the “crocodile” airboats.
"Those were 30 seconds that none of us will forget," said Paul Scerri, an associate research professor in CMU's Robotics Institute and president of Platypus. In the end, the 13-pound boat, made of vacuum-formed plastic and filled with the same sort of airbags commonly used as packing material in parcels, managed to outrun the 2-1/2 ton hippo.
The data is still being analyzed and is not yet published, so there cannot be any conclusions drawn by researchers. "It's a different sort of scientific process in the field there," said Scerri, who visited the project for four days. "You go where you can and do what you can." The sonar sensors aboard the boats were used to create depth maps of the pools and to measure the depth of the fecal deposits, while other sensors checked such water quality parameters as water temperature, oxygen content and electrical conductivity.
Here at Wild Florida, we are passionate about airboats, wildlife and the preservation of natural Florida and the Everglades. Come to Wild Florida to get a little piece of natural, undiscovered Florida, and book an airboat ride to tour the undeveloped headwaters of the Everglades. If you’re interested, please visit our website today.
