Top 5 Eco-Conscious Robots

Main Insights

Let’s face it: robots aren't typically thought of as eco-friendly. After all, they are mechanical replicas of living beings, right? At home, they rely on electricity to power up for tasks like vacuuming. In fiction, they’re often portrayed as polluting the air with their fiery emissions, rampaging through cities, and, at times, even attempting to wipe out humanity.

Of course, there are always eco-conscious robots from the silver screen like Pixar's "Wall-E" or the drones from the 1972 movie "Silent Running" to consider, but what about in reality? You may be surprised to find out that creators have designed a variety of robots with environmentally friendly features and purposes. Let's meet a few of these, shall we?

5: The Robotic Predator

If you consider the "Matrix" film series as a true prediction, you know that machines will one day overthrow humans and imprison us in a colossal electronic generator. Cue the kung fu and explosions.

Take a look around, and you'll quickly realize that modern robots aren't quite up to the challenge. Seriously, if a Roomba can't outsmart a cat, what chance do the machines have against humans?

In the late 1990s, the University of the West of England's Bristol Robotics Laboratory explored the concept of a robot predator. The engineers designed a prototype with a key mission: catch garden slugs and convert them into fuel. While the mechanical and programming challenges of such a project are impressive, it’s the focus on transforming a garden nuisance into energy that makes the SlugBot an eco-friendly machine.

The design envisioned the bot capturing 10 slugs per minute during the night, storing them in a container, then returning to its base to recharge and deposit the slimy creatures into a fermentation chamber. There, bacteria would break down the slugs into biogas, which would power the SlugBot's next outing.

For now, the slugs are safe. The team behind the SlugBot has moved on to developing new robo predators, like the self-sustaining, fly-catching EcoBot II, which lures its prey with a scent resembling human waste. They are also working on EcoBot III and have considered creating a plankton-eating, self-powered robot that would thrive in the ocean.

4: Sewage Pig

In an episode of the TV show "Futurama," the notorious robot Bender "Bending" Rodriguez spots a small robot cleaning up some trash. Indignant, the fiery automaton exclaims, "And look who's cleaning up the crap! A human child? I wish!"

Bender would probably be even more outraged if he found himself in present-day Germany, where electric mole or "pig" robots are literally cleaning up the mess. Manufactured by Thermo-System, these wheeled robots travel through human waste, using solar energy to help dry around 60 million tons (54 million metric tons) of sewage annually in Germany alone [source: Thomas]. As they move through the sludge, they also turn it over, aiding the hungry microbes with aeration.

Setting aside robot civil rights concerns, these electric moles help keep sewage treatment plant costs and carbon emissions low.

3: Sawfish Underwater Lumberjack

Humans have a deep affection for lakes. Besides providing water for irrigation, these large bodies of water are perfect for boating, swimming, and countless other summer activities. We also love to create our own lakes when nature doesn't come through. Simply dam a river downstream and — voilà — a valley transforms into a man-made reservoir, ready for your weekend enjoyment.

Sounds wonderful, doesn’t it? However, constructing a man-made lake often leaves valuable trees submerged at the bottom. In fact, there are an estimated 300 million trees beneath lakes that could be salvaged, worth around $50 billion [source: Gordon]. Why chop down trees that purify the air and absorb carbon when we could be harvesting this hidden treasure?

Enter Triton Logging's Sawfish. This 7,000-pound (3,175-kilogram) remote-controlled submarine descends, attaches airbags to tree trunks, and starts cutting. Triton currently harvests Douglas fir, Western white pine, lodgepole pine, and hemlock year-round in British Columbia. Not only is this robot environmentally friendly, but it’s also generating profits.

2: Roboctopus

There are many robotic submarines in existence, ranging from the Sawfish underwater lumberjack to the deep-sea explorers like Zeus II. While these machines allow humans to explore aquatic depths from a safe distance, they simply can’t match the natural grace of Mother Nature herself.

On one side, you have creatures like the octopus, which can effortlessly glide across delicate coral habitats and squeeze through the narrowest openings. On the other side, humanity has bulky, massive submarines with small, awkward arms.

A team of researchers from Greece, Italy, Israel, Switzerland, Turkey, and the UK have come up with a middle ground: soft, robotic tentacles. The resulting underwater robot, affectionately called the roboctopus by New Scientist magazine, would be able to gently navigate fragile environments without causing harm. While biomimicry itself isn’t inherently eco-friendly (imagine a robot crab programmed to target hybrid cars), the roboctopus would help scientists search for signs of climate change in narrow ocean cracks and delicate coral areas.

Each soft tentacle will feature four cords, each containing electroactive polymers that flex when exposed to an electric field. Developers are still working towards an actual prototype, but this could lead to groundbreaking, non-invasive seafloor exploration.

1: Robot Ships That Battle Global Warming

Sure, robot octopuses might one day scour the ocean floor for signs of global warming, but then what? If we need to lower the planetary temperature to avoid environmental disaster, which robots will come to our rescue? Fortunately, Professors John Latham and Stephen Salter have proposed an answer: a fleet of around a thousand robotic cloud-seeding ships.

The concept behind this geoengineering (or planet hacking) approach is that by reflecting just 3 percent more solar radiation, we could significantly reduce the effects of global warming caused by increased carbon dioxide emissions [source: Latham]. To achieve this extra reflectivity, options include launching massive mirrors into space, painting more roofs white, or enhancing cloud cover, which naturally reflects solar radiation.

Latham and Salter's proposal suggests that these automated vessels would continuously spray seawater into the air to create low-altitude clouds. What's the potential risk? Scientists are still uncertain about how such atmospheric alterations might affect global weather patterns — not to mention the financial cost. Nevertheless, it's hard to deny the green initiative of robots designed to preserve the melting polar icecaps.

Keep reading for more insights into the future of sustainable technology.