Self-Navigating Robot to Help Rejuvenate the Great Barrier Reef

Over the past couple of decades, one of the most actively depressing environmental stories has undoubtedly been the Great Barrier Reef. The world's premiere region for coral growth is also a center of biodiversity, and helps drive many large-scale oceanic cycles—and a combination of global warming and ocean acidification has a real chance of destroying it entirely.

Well, now things seem to be looking up—at least, a bit.

A new effort led by the Australian Institute of Marine Science looks to directly restore the reef by planting "baby corals" all over the area. It involves not just a specifically tailored delivery robot, but an advanced AI model that scans the sea floor and autonomously selects the best spots for spawning.

The baby-drop robot works by hanging off the side of a boat, with multiple cameras facing down. As it scans along the bed, it takes note of ...