This Friendly Autonomous Robot Lives To Plant Trees In The Desert

A design student has developed an autonomous miniature robot that can comb through vast desert terrains, sowing seeds when it finds a fertile area to plant a tree. 

The ‘A’seedbot’, created by Mazyar Etehadi from the Dubai Institute of Design and Innovation, could be a new, ingenious way to transform barren landscapes into lush greenery. It was unveiled at the Global Grad Show, an event that sees designers come together to showcase innovations that could solve today’s environmental issues.

“I just wish that there were more plants, more greenery out there,” Etehadi told CNN.

Measuring just eight inches long, the tiny robot is equipped with its own solar panels, allowing it to recharge its battery during the day and continue working through the night. It can operate all on its own within a three-mile radius, using its 3D-printed legs to crawl through sand dunes in search of viable spots to plant a seed. 

According to Interesting Engineering, the robot comes with a built-in collision avoidance system and has a distance sensor that it uses to send reports back to its controller. The only time a human needs to intervene is to refill the robot with more seeds.

“I think it was an easy solution to come up with, but no one had actually came up with it,” said Etehadi. 

Going forward, he hopes his idea can be adopted by the government, the farming industry, and private individuals such as solo farmers as a more efficient way to grow plants.

[via Interesting Engineering, images by Mazyar Etehadi and featured with permission, via Global Grad Show]