The Queensland University of Technology (QUT), Google and the Great Barrier Reef Foundation have collaborated to develop an underwater drone that can not only keep watch on reef health, but also accurately identify and inject the crown-of-thorns starfish, which can be especially dangerous.

Known as RangerBot, the underwater robotic system is ready to be tested on the Great Barrier Reef.

RangerBot can “see” underwater thanks to its high-tech vision system. Operated using a smart tablet, RangerBot won the 2016 Google Impact Challenge People’s Choice prize, allowing QUT roboticists to develop innovative robotics technology into a real-life reef protector.

After undergoing nearly two years of research, development and testing, RangerBot “is now ready to be put through its paces by those working to monitor and protect the Reef,” according to QUT Professor Matthew Dunbabin.

“RangerBot is the world’s first underwater robotic system designed specifically for coral reef environments, using only robot-vision for real-time navigation, obstacle avoidance and complex science missions,” Professor Dunbabin explains.

“This multifunction ocean drone can monitor a wide range of issues facing coral reefs including coral bleaching, water quality, pest species, pollution and siltation. It can help to map expansive underwater areas at scales not previously possible, making it a valuable tool for reef research and management.”

RangerBot has a variety of capabilities, Dunbabin says, including its ability to stay under water almost three times longer than a human diver, gather more data, and operate in all conditions and at all times of the day or night, including where it may not be safe for a human diver.

Fitted with computer vision to see where it’s going and avoid obstacles, RangerBot can also move in any direction thanks to its multiple thrusters.

Additionally, RangerBot has been “trained” to detect crown-of-thorns starfish in a similar fashion to how people learn to differentiate between different forms of sea life. The robotic system uses real time computer vision processed on board it to identify these deadly starfish with 99.4% accuracy.

“Once the identification is confirmed, RangerBot can instigate an injection which is fatal for the crown-of-thorns starfish, but doesn’t affect anything else on the reef,” Dunbabin says.

In 2016, the Great Barrier Reef Foundation teamed up with QUT roboticists Professor Matthew Dunbabin and Dr Feras Dayoub to enter the Google Impact Challenge. After winning the People’s Choice prize, the entities secured $750,000 to take the project to the next level.

“We’re thrilled to see RangerBot come to fruition because this project is about giving those looking after our coral reefs the tools they need to protect them,” Great Barrier Reef Foundation Managing Director Anna Marsden says.

“Combining the expertise of innovators like Google and QUT, this project is a great example of harnessing technology to benefit the Reef.”

Marsden says that more than a billion people depend on coral reefs for their food and livelihood, so these are the people who will be the most affected if those important ecosystems are not protected.

“This project and partnership with QUT and Google is about putting these cost-effective, flexible and readily deployable ‘drones of the sea’ into the hands of the people at the front line of looking after and managing our coral reefs, as extra ‘hands and eyes’ to manage those critical environments,” Marsden says.

“Even though the Great Barrier Reef is internationally acknowledged as the best managed reef globally, due to its size and complexity, effective management is a mammoth and expensive task. RangerBot has the potential to revolutionize the way we manage our oceans and is an important tool to have at our disposal in the quest to save our coral reefs.”