#Agv robot adapted for handicapped professional

Yet this technology also offers new tools for scientists investigating the ecological impact of such changes. Successive technological revolutions have promoted economic growth and are ultimately leading to global change, including the current biodiversity crisis. Similarly, it is not yet technically possible to fully record the microorganism species diversity in one cubic meter of soil taken from any temperate woodland or pasture. For instance, species diversity is so high in tropical rainforests that researchers do not expect to ever obtain a complete biodiversity census: many species vanish in forestry clear cuts before having been identified by scientists. Such a monumental task is not only limited by funding, which remains anecdotal in Ecology when considering the importance of the aforementioned issues threatening biodiversity on earth, but also by the available technology: numerous areas are too remote or too dangerous to be thoroughly surveyed, and essential experiments involving millions of repetitive tasks are not being conducted for lack of necessary manpower and time. However, there are justified fears that progress in ecological knowledge might be far too slow to counter ongoing global environmental degradation. This in turn requires observing, experimenting with, and modeling the living planet with unprecedented completeness, accuracy, and rapidity.

#Agv robot adapted for handicapped professional

Professional ecologists across the globe are now pressed to: 1) provide complete censuses of the earth’s biodiversity, 2) understand the impact of ongoing global change upon the biosphere in end-to-end ecosystems, 3) predict future trends according to a series of scenarios conditioned by politics and socioeconomic development.

This is due to the unequivocal impact of global change upon the biosphere, and to the anthropogenic “sixth extinction” which potentially threatens humankind itself. Long considered second class “soft” science, it now enjoys strong support from society. Such rapid progress nonetheless raises ethical, environmental, and security issues.Įcology as a scientific discipline dates back to Renaissance, yet it has only flourished over the past 50 years. Finally, interactive robots and cyborgs are becoming major players in modern studies of animal behavior. These new technologies will enable automated experimentation for increasingly large sample sizes, both in the laboratory and in the field. Robots will also play an essential role in population Ecology, as they will allow for automatic census of individuals through image processing, or via detection of animals marked electronically. Autonomous robots, in particular drones sent to previously inaccessible areas, have revolutionized data acquisition, not only for abiotic parameters, but also for recording the behavior of undisturbed animals and collecting biological material. Their use in Ecology is in its infancy, but they may soon become essential tools in a broad variety of ecological sub-disciplines. Robots have primarily been developed for warfare, yet they also serve peaceful purposes. Keywords: Animal Behavior Biodiversity Monitoring Autonomous Vehicle Drone Cyborg Population Biology Robot Ethics Robotics Network Received 8 December 2011 revised 14 February 2012 accepted 24 February 2012 1Centre for Functional and Evolutionary Ecology, National Center for Scientific Research, Montpellier, France *Corresponding Author: Institute, DST/NRF Centre of Excellence, University of Cape Town, Rondebosch, South AfricaģLaboratory of Informatics, Robotics, and Microelectronics, National Center for Scientific Research, Université Montpellier II, Montpellier, FranceĤLaboratory of Geophysics and Satellite Oceanography, National Center for Scientific Research, Toulouse, FranceĥDepartment of Ecology, Physiology and Ethology, Hubert Curien Institute, National Center for Scientific Research, Strasbourg, France