Using Robotics to Scare Birds

Posted 8 Aug 2001 at 18:28 UTC by steve

A story from Discover News reports that researchers at the LSU Aquaculture Research Station have developed a floating, autonomous robot platform powered by solar panels. The floating robot searches for birds using a vision recognition system and scares them away by bumping into them or squirting them with a water gun. The robot floats in catfish ponds to protect the stock which is frequently depleted by hungry birds. They hope the robot will be able to replace the dangerous poisons and annoying loudspeakers currently used to stop bird predation at catfish ponds.