Robot sloth to monitor animals, track endangered species

Researchers have built a slow-moving sloth robot that can linger in trees for years to monitor animals, plants and the environment

Engineers at Georgia Institute of Technology developed a solar-powered, energy-efficient robot that moves slowly across the tree, just like a sloth.

Magnus Egerstedt, professor, Georgia Institute of Technology, said, “That’s not how robots are typically designed today, but being slow and hyper-energy efficient will allow SlothBot to linger in the environment to observe things we can only see by being present continuously for months, or even years.”

SlothBot moves along a cable strung between two large trees as it monitors temperature, weather, carbon dioxide levels, and other information in the Atlanta forest. It will also be able to switch from cable to cable to cover more territory.

It is said that the bot could even be useful for precision agriculture, where it might spot bugs or diseases before human farmers do.