Citizen Science — Aquatic Robot Division
- Kathy Ceceri for wired.com November 15th, 2012
- Source: http://www.wired.com/geekdad/2012/10/brooklyn-aquatic-robot/
You can play an important role in the exploration of a strange, dank, inhospitable environment which may harbor life forms still unknown to modern science.
The place? The Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn, a former toxic waste dump now designated as a Superfund clean-up site.
Your job? Help researchers and students from the Polytechnic Institute of New York University identify living and inanimate objects in the canal by tagging photos posted online by an Aquatic Robotic Vehicle dubbed the Brooklyn Atlantis I.
As reported in The New York Times, starting today, the solar-powered, remote-controlled aquabot will be exploring the canal, taking readings of pH, oxygen levels, and other measures of the waterway’s health. That data, along with photos from above and beneath the water, will be uploaded to the project’s website every few seconds. Create an account or sign in with Facebookand you can help the researchers catalog the visual recordings by naming the things you see.
