Snotbot – Ocean Alliance
The Ocean Alliance has a Snotbot Kickstarter project.
This is taking non-invasive research to the next level – to study whales without harassing them or harming them.
Tens of thousands of whales are killed or injured every year as a direct or indirect result of human activities. The health of ocean ecosystems is tied directly to the health of whales. If we continue to lose whales, the results will be disastrous not just for the oceans, but for our entire planet.
Snotbots are custom-built drones created in partnership between Ocean Alliance and Olin College of Engineering. They hover in the air above a surfacing whale and collect the blow (or snot) exhaled from its lungs. Snotbot then returns that sample back to researchers a significant distance away.
Their longtime supporter, Patrick Stewart, helped make the video.
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