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Unmanned 'Terminator' Robots Kill Jellyfish

Posted by samzenpus on from the it-can't-be-reasoned-with dept.

First time accepted submitter starr802 writes "Scientists from the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology in Daejeon, South Korea, have developed a 'jellyfish terminator' robot set out to detect the marine coelenterate and kill it. Scientists started developing the robots three years ago after South Korea experienced jellyfish attacks along its southwest coast, where they clogged fishing nets and ate fish eggs and plankton, Discovery News reports. The Jellyfish Elimination Robotic Swarm or JEROS has two motors that let it move forward, backwards and rotate at 360 degrees." In related news, the Oskarshamn nuclear plant in southeastern Sweden was shut down recently after moon jellyfish overwhelmed the screens and filters in cooling pipes."

9 of 149 comments (clear)

  1. Robots to kill moon jellyfish by Sockatume · · Score: 5, Interesting

    We are living in the future.

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    No kidding!!! What do you say at this point?
    1. Re:Robots to kill moon jellyfish by DarkOx · · Score: 5, Interesting

      Actually Climate change will raise ocean temperatures and make it EASIER for ocean life to thrive

      Some types of Ocean life perhaps, but not necessarily the stuff that feeds or even the stuff that isn't unpleasant to share a swim. The stuff we don't care for so much Jellyfish and tiny creatures that we mostly experiences as mats of nasty scum will probably take over.

      If the temperatures of sea water rise much it gets more acidic. Other complex life hostile chemical events around surfer and phosphorus might also turn it into a toxic soup.

      If some of the marine biology people are right the rise in sea level is going to be the least of what we humans experience as problems. I am not at all convinced by the AGW science, I don't support carbon emissions regulation and might not even if we had conclusive evidence climate change was a man made event, because I think we should be making the investment in adaptation at this point. We are already near 400ppm its likely positive feed back at this point with our without us. We need to be looking geoengineering and finding solutions to actively control the climate.

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      Repeal the 17th Amendment TODAY! Also Please Read http://www.gnu.org/philosophy/right-to-read.html
  2. Really? by nospam007 · · Score: 3, Interesting

    "South Korea experienced jellyfish attacks along its southwest coast, where they (...) ate fish eggs and plankton,"

    The bastards!
    What about Dolphins and sharks? Do they have a robot for those too?

    1. Re:Really? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Interesting

      these are not normal Korean jellyfish, these are an invasive species, looks like fat american variety, but actually traced to the torpedo-tubes of israeli submarines lurking in Asian waters.

      usnavy has sonar which repeatedly and consistently kills most whales within its range. this fact has been largely ignored until last week. mass-media prefers to blame dead whales on the Northerners and Japanese.

      sharks are altogether a different problem

  3. Who's next by gdr · · Score: 4, Interesting

    First the robots came for the jellyfish, but I did not speak out because I was not a jellyfish ... (Not sure if joking).

    1. Re:Who's next by Thanshin · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Actually, they first came for the terrorists, then for political dissidents and rebels, and only then, the jellyfish.

      Amoebas should start worrying.

  4. Re:people = shit by NatasRevol · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Unintended consequences.

    We hunt the predators ie fish. Their prey take over the ocean. Literally.

    http://www.nybooks.com/articles/archives/2013/sep/26/jellyfish-theyre-taking-over/?page=1

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    There are two types of people in the world: Those who crave closure
  5. Re:people = shit by pla · · Score: 5, Interesting

    What needs to be done is to destroy the fishing fleets.

    Dear mods:

    The parent post does not count as flamebait, quite the opposite, he has very bluntly and articulately identified the root cause of the current overabundance of jellyfish.

    Humans can still fish (although we really should limit ourselves to recreational fishing, and stick with farmed fish for food production). But modern supertrawlers don't just decimate fish populations, they catch the entire population in an area.

    You want to get rid of jellyfish, get rid of these floating offenses to biodiversity by any means possible. Ban them, sink them, make their crew pariahs. If the fish come back, the jellyfish will vanish.

  6. Re:people = shit by Applehu+Akbar · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Yes, it would make perfect sense to replace hunting at sea with farming, just as we did on land millennia ago, so that our use of seafood could become sustainable. So why does the Luddite lobby oppose every kind of fish farming, preferring to remain romantically identified with wild catch? When I question them on this, all I get is that one old talking point "Because the first attempts at fish farming involved crappy feed, overcrowding and disease, God said it has to be this way forever!"