Remote-Controlled Swans Track Water Conditions While Blending In

GPS-guided robots disguised as swan are set to take water quality measurements for researchers. (NUS Environmental Research Institute)

Researchers at the National University of Singapore are developing robotic platforms to monitor water quality parameters, according to Quartz. The robots are built to resemble swans so that they can blend in with the environments they’re used in.

The project is called NUSwan and is jointly headed up by the university’s Environmental Research Institute and Tropical Marine Science Institute. Scientists overseeing the project have built the swan platforms to be controlled by remotes, but they are also working to make it possible for the swans to use GPS technology in planning their own monitoring routes.

The swans can accommodate a variety of sensors for tracking changes in water conditions. These include physical and biological parameters like pH, turbidity or chlorophyll. The researchers are hopeful that sensors for phosphates can also be added in the future.

Top image: GPS-guided robots disguised as swan are set to take water quality measurements for researchers. (NUS Environmental Research Institute)