A robot that eats pollution | Jonathan Rossiter

Meet the "Row-bot," a robot that cleans up pollution and generates the electricity needed to power itself by swallowing dirty water. Roboticist Jonathan Rossiter explains how this special swimming machine, which uses a microbial fuel cell to neutralize algal blooms and oil slicks, could be a precursor to biodegradable, autonomous pollution-fighting robots.
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[@thecasualfront7432]

Ted is always telling us the future is just around the corner.............I'm still waiting

[@maxybaer123]

no the future is now well technically in 2021 still thats only 4 years away

[@EdwinLuciano]

I'm glad for it. When the future really does come, we won't be able to say it's around the corner anymore!

[@beatsbyzim1]

Fools Gold Found technically you are always waiting for the future to happen

[@kinsmed]

You are carrying a computer in your pocket that is more powerful than the computer that took man to the moon. Do you know anybody that has recently died from cancer? Cancer deaths are down substantially. People are getting Uber rides from autonomous cars. Private spacecraft are carrying out missions. You are already in the future.

[@jamisonfoley1981]

the future is always ahead, we can never be in the future

[@TimiS0]

"We started off looking at robots that would eat pollution, and then we are looking at robots that we can eat..." how about we jut cut out the middle man and eat pollution ourselves.

[@orianabrat1236]

Simply amazing! But we still need to educate people to stop pollution. I love when i see people work so that we can salve our world 💙

[@fredrikbackstrom2201]

A small robot made from jelly that eats cancer? that is so fucking cool.

[@bruhngl]

Fredrik Bäckström cool but not helpful

[@NevG27]

_ TheSingingVine _ I don't know know about not helpful. A robot that can identify disease, or really anything harmful seems pretty convenient to me. If it can cure it too, I'd say that's pretty close to helpful.

[@chadoftoons]

Just like pens are bombs right?

[@BlueyMcPhluey]

now this is the kind of content that I follow TED for - very interesting!

[@pronoob1983]

Really neat, amazing the possibilities with this!

[@przemysawwozniak651]

I love this idea! Very creative and novel approach to the robotics :)

[@saxxyoboe]

This is a really cool idea! Thanks for sharing.

[@genericaccount9222]

Incredible work

[@team_hong_c4841]

10/25 eleventh video I like the concept about soft robotics. Actually, my university's new professor is majored in soft robotics, so I search about soft robotics before. At first, I wonder where we can use. But, more and more I study about it, I can know the future of robotics will be a soft robot. Because it is soft, we can use it variety of place such as wearable device or exoskeleton suits. It can be more useful if it is combined with battery which eat pollution. For example, the wearable device get power from the body's waste product. This video always help me to get wide vision.I like it

[@LOLthisfun]

Really neat. I have one question though, what happens to the bacteria that turn the pollutants to energy? I guess if you can limit their food source by closing the mouth after a certain period then they die. But what if some of them don't die and go into the environment?

[@bruhngl]

LOLthisfun that's why this is a bad idea

[@LOLthisfun]

I'm sure there are ways around it.

[@filonin2]

These bacteria are already present in the environment. The "stomach" just provides a place to protect them and concentrate "food."

[@weareallbornmad410]

I mean, you do know there's bacteria all around us, right? A non-insignificant portion of our body mass is actually bacteria living inside. Obviously you have to think about which bacteria you put where, but I'd be surprised if that wasn't adressed in the project.

[@peterzupevc7097]

So if these bacteria are environmentally friendly, as they already exist in nature, why not just produce large quantities and spread them where the oil was spilled? And additional advantage: as long there is oil they will multiply to consume oil faster. When they eat all the oil, they no longer have a food source and die. The oil spill is organically cleaned. If you use robots for this, you still have to produce bacteria, why not cut out a middlemen, I mean "middlerobot”? :)

[@baileybourque811]

I saw a video a few years ago that had a similar idea of looking at nature and other organisms besides humans to influence technology for the future

[@tipsytako3633]

Make these robots bigger and be able to self replicate and you got yourself horizon zero dawn :D

[@unrulycrow6299]

Bad84552364 From eating pollution to eating the entire biomass of the planet, there's only one step.

[@magellanicraincloud]

You're joking right? There are many many steps.

[@The1stMachinist]

Nice ideas. something we should look into more on a much larger scale.

[@silhouettewonders6081]

I had a hound ad that was 3:38 and was unskippable

[@Amar2653]

in future the technology is beyond next level

[@The-Blue-Knight]

Great idea! :D

[@hsgrain490]

Informative

[@kineticF7]

THAT'S SO COOL!

[@haze6015]

good idea but extremely difficult execution

[@vidhyapriya4722]

Amazing stuffs

[@brendarua01]

I want one!

[@sierranevadahiker4440]

Reminds me of Robot 1-X on Futurama. He sucks in the pollution from the other robots and produces oxygen.

[@arwenmccaffrey]

it's almost creepy when u realize how advaned in technology we've become

[@Account-fk8cx]

"Ted talks, Presenting horizon zero dawn lore"

[@krzysztofh4585]

I wonder how many of these robots you need to have in a swarm to make them applicable in practice. Were they tested in the ocean environment?

[@Nouvellecosse]

What I want to know is, if all the actual work of breaking down the pollution is done by microbes in the rowbot's "stomach" then why don't we just spread those microbes directly onto the pollution? Why do they need to be part of a robot to do this? Microbes have been eating and breaking down various compounds long before robots were even invented...

[@MasterLagoz]

Because robots are cool damn it!

[@krishnachaitanya7104]

Nouvellecosse difficult to control

[@Wegnerrobert2]

Nouvellecosse I thought if this too abd some reasons I could imagine are that the microbes might quickly die out if you just spread then out or that they could become the next pest if you just apply them without any control mechanism (the robot).

[@madDragon08]

I think he mentioned using genetically altered microbes too. Which worries me a little when it comes to unintended mutations later on. If the robot were to biodegrade, what would happen to the microbes? Would they disperse and die, or would they adapt and spread like the algae currently does?

[@JohnCiambriello]

Creative. "Row" bot. Looking to nature to teach us how to clean up our act. Love Ted Talk. Hope that my daily "Encourage-Mint" videos freshen your day.

[@modudley3028]

Super creative with the name!

[@JohnWilson-bj4ir]

Nice! It is a neat concept.

[@mariabarnard9605]

It would be nice for the pollution to not start up in the first place

[@JohnCiambriello]

Very cool! I love the idea of it.

[@JohnCiambriello]

I see what you're saying Maria. We defiantly need to get our act together, but we're already down this road. I think it's a good attempt at fixing one of the problems... that is... the pollution that we already have around us.

[@Leotique]

so cool

[@mangotango8115]

What does it release?

[@yashwanthcb]

creative thinking

[@jack-so6zs]

sounds like someone didnt play horizon zero dawn

[@AboNa7y]

came to say this hahahaha

[@tipsytako3633]

0363jack lol I was thinking the same

[@unrulycrow6299]

0363jack Fun fact, this video got uploaded RIGHT after Odd's latest HZD let's play (well that's how it appeared on my account)... Which is at Maker's End, so we get the background about Elizabeth. The timing is so perfect I can't even. I actually took a screenshot, it was that beautiful.

[@GhostofPhoenix]

Tbf, the problem there is using the tech for unkillable military robots, not the replacement ecosystem.

[@toniasss]

I dont want a robot you can eat pollution, in my opinion it is the firts step to destroy the planet.

[@VILK1N]

subtitles?

[@lmd4516]

i'm feel interesting after watching this video.

[@ArvindN96]

Super

[@Loebane]

Note - Jelly in the UK is called Jello in the US.

[@DeathLeftHid]

if they can degrade when they die, what is stopping them from degrading when in use?

[@nyx211]

How would one make an artificial muscle out of jelly and salt?

[@royjohnson225]

how many months these robots would take to clean a huge oil spill?

[@SnowElf_96]

Wow finally someone with an actual brain

[@ehsanentezar6047]

We should worship these guys

[@rcookie5128]

But how do you control when biodegradable robots decay? I really like the concept, but I mean a jelly-paper robot thingy would "die" out after not even a day on the open sea surface I would say..

[@mgsBicycleO9]

The ultimate solution is still to be mindful about your consumption. We need to stop behaving in ways that pollute the earth. The robot idea is super cool though.

[@vivekbharadwaj3256]

👌 Cool 👌

[@locouk]

Producing the robots surely creates more pollution than they would consume in its working life time.

[@andrecampos4252]

True, this calls for some thorough life-cycle assessment

[@kellypowell2581]

So, where does fertilizer come from? O yes, the ground!!!😭😭😭😳😳🤣😂

[@ayush0477]

sounds like WALL-E

[@WalterAnihuuyi456]

this is the guy who led the events of horizon zero dawn

[@smashandburnyt6938]

ted 😂😂😂

[@stephenma5563]

"Ah I found a cancer!" "Hold on, my master didnt tell me how to convey the bloody message!" "Noooooo, I am being digested! I am melting! Wait....."

[@redstoneprojectrules]

wouldn't it be more efficient to add a little 1$ solar panel and make the robot search for highly poluted spots while iddle?

[@19emilyn]

What if the robot eats an organism that is not supposed to be eaten. Or what if something else tries to eat the robot?

[@FranciscoGaribayP]

I guess the robot should develop some kind of “smart swallowing” where it only engulfs the algae it is supposed to. Other organisms may not be a problem as he mentions in his lecture, excess of algae prevents other organisms from surviving, I’m guessing the entire environment would be full of only algae

[@shobitchaurasia]

Just when you notice Lew from Unbox Therapy!

[@AmxrJ99]

sounds revolutionary!

[@CatboyChemicalSociety]

Just make sure it doesn't fall in love with a planetary exploration probe.

[@minimart626]

lol ok Dr. Faro, I think we need to find Sobeck

[@GhostofPhoenix]

Sobeck is the one who developed this type of tech - Faro just used it for military purposes.

[@maxybaer123]

assuming you could make this 1000x smaller then couldent they be swimming

[@littleratblue]

5 minutes just for the introduction on a 14 minute video? I think you could probably tighten this presentation up.

[@Maria89ML]

This is really interesting. What do you do when your robot creates too many microbes after eating all that pollution? What about a solar powered robots instead that would still go out there and collect the pollution?

[@RishirajuDantuluri]

I wonder how the sea animals will respond to these robots roaming around the ocean.

[@gyro5d]

The fish/animals will eat the robots and die. We will have junk in the fuckashema ocean, no fish/animals. Just robots swimming in robots crap, GREAT!!!

[@Micontreras07]

Sorry, I don't speak english very well, can someone help me to understand somenthing? what happen with the oil after the robot eat it ? thanks :)

[@BaoNguyen-og5np]

Micontreras07 the oil will be consumed (eaten) by the cells which will turn it into energy. Think about it as the waste of the cells are energy

it seems most people liked the video, so it didn't got disabled... So ted! You make the likeration invisible if you think the video is bad... interesting :D

[@jcjensenllc]

just like our medical system, treat the symptom instead of the cause.

[@razeshormaharjan1508]

what if some animals eat that robot? lol

[@joanforster3159]

Great idea how about eating cancer cells would that work??

[@benjaminkaarst]

The demonstration to change the way we think about robots was a gummy bear?

[@sourabhdudakiya3196]

Quite an Interesting idea Sir. I liked it. Thanks for showing us that robots are not only meant for humans. they can also serve the environment ✌️

[@maxtano662]

WALL-E?

[@FinancialTheorist]

Yo key, where'd you're duty, go?

[@chrishawly]

How does algae starve the water of oxygen. Don't they produce oxygen?

[@CodeMerk]

They consume Oxygen in the dark when they can't get sun light, so on very cloudy days that overcast the ocean for days, they end up consuming more oxygen then they can produce, causing the area to lose its oxygen. Some Info about this: articles.extension.org/pages/45651/if-algae-produce-oxygen-in-a-pond-how-can-having-too-much-algae-cause-an-oxygen-depletion

[@renlin6614]

We can make robots that can eat, and we can make robots that you can eat... "Then well make a robot that can eat itself" I thought...

[@StrangerHappened]

*It would be still much cheaper to just industrially grow a necessary type of pollution-eating bacteria* and spread it over contaminated areas than to produce "million or billion" of such biodegradable robots.

[@sonicase]

ahhh but can you make a robot that eats the other robots...when you have too many robots that's what you're gonna have to do

[@myleg...]

aelge outputs oxygen, doesn't it? how does that starve the ocean of oxygen?

[@risingSisyphus]

it stops the light from going into the water. The oxygen from the algae goes into the air and not into the water.

[@sozialeskorrektiv7702]

super intelligent polution robot might think: eat humans xD

[@CodeMerk]

Well, that sure would reduce the pollution wouldn't it? XD

[@smashandburnyt6938]

then horizon zero dawn would come true 😂😂😂

[@mateuszsoszynski7880]

I hate this intro because it's similar to my morning alarm.

[@jony5812]

The robots could be eaten by that basking shark

[@bruhngl]

Why do so many people think this is actually a good idea?

[@kavishvaidya3787]

Eating what just saved you from cancer... Isn't that bit harsh...

[@dummypg6129]

@unbox therapy you're on TED.

[@Apostate_ofmind]

how much are you gonna bet that producing the robot will require more resources to be consumed and so worsning the ploblem?

[@Apostate_ofmind]

because the problem is not what is produced by the industry, but the industry itself.

[@chickentamales6837]

industry is a very hard thing to change. I think the biggest problem is that there's just too many people.

[@dkbz911]

what happens when row bot doesnt get enough food for moving? it dies!

[@Morkvonork]

Why dont they just mass produce those bacteria and then airdrop them into affected areas?

[@emilycaballero6052]

This is legitimately awesome.

[@bruhngl]

Emily Caballero and stupid

[@Bartekkru100]

Why make robots with bacteria in their gut instead just releasing those bacteria to do the job themselves?

[@dirkrol3471]

it's always amazing how nature can have us ideas to solve our problems(....that we made in first place)

[@bruhngl]

Dirkrol this won't solve anything

[@maartenbaan2674]

Windesheim laat je horen

[@robin3685]

Heuy

[@keivnrussell1946]

"Google is wrong... Robots don't look like that" Well actually your wrong and google is correct... It's just you designed your robot differently from all the others.

[@Vicioussama]

Sure hope they don't go the way of Horizon Zero Dawn allowing them to self replicate or devour any other biomass :P

[@whateverppl1229]

12:15 *fish eats your robots* *wonders why pollution doesn't get better*

[@malikshahid5613]

unbox therap there

[@Gaxhar]

Why not just sprinkle the oil-eating microbes all over the oil spill? They'd be released into the environment when the robot biodegrades anyway. The rest of the robot just exists to move the microbes around, but if you just mass produce the microbes instead of the robots you don't have a problem.

[@MrSirAussie]

should be used in Mars.....good one thanks

[@darios9797]

making a von neumann machine out of this would be incredible.

[@NoxMarcus]

No info at all regarding how well this "stomach" actually works. Is the capacity actually relevant in a real situation? "Milliwatts or microwatts..."? A small solar cell would produce many orders of magnitude more energy. It seems the energy producing capacity is just a gimmick, unless it can be massively improved. No discussion if that's even possible. No back of the envelope calculations of how many robots would be needed to deal with X. "Millions, Billions"? How are these gonna be produced cost effectively? Seems like this would require a technological manufacturing revolution deserving it's very own talk. Cool project, but as a practical solution I'm highly skeptical. Dream big, but don't lie by omission about what is actually possible.

[@mhmdnazel1]

Algae in the oceans play a very vital part in the regulation of air and food in the water...Tampering with such basic fundamentals is a bad idea... makings of a crisis just like the climate change bcos of pollution.. Best thing is to create large quantities of autonomous robots that clean and filter the seawater of non-organic materials ..NOT the the plant life.. every ship big n small should also be fitted with it

[@Alpha-Ultra]

Wally

[@drinkingripa3928]

What is the flow rate?... Can this teck be used for kitchen waste ie fat and waste food???

[@PequenaNoobAmaPudim]

waaaall-eee

[@jonasventurejr.6582]

"The new rules were designed as part of No Child Left Behind, along with 31 other states and Washington, D.C. , the Virginia legislature set the following passing test scores: 82% for Asian students 68% for whites 52% for Latinos 45% for blacks 33% for kids with disabilities"

[@arthurdadashev7890]

когда будет на русском языке ?)