Home News A helping (robotic) hand for coral
By AG Staff • 10 December 2024
The CHARM coral farming robot's soft robotic hand
This soft robotic ‘hand’ is helping scientists propagate baby corals in laboratories. Image credit: courtesy CSIRO
In a world-first, CSIRO scientists have developed a soft robotic ‘hand’ to assist coral propagation efforts in laboratories.
This robotic hand – attached to a coral farming robot called CHARM (Coral Husbandry Automated Raceway Machine) – will partially automate the labour-intensive process of cultivating baby corals.
“Cultivating hundreds or thousands of baby coral colonies in the lab demands significant effort and precise handing,” says Dr Josh Pinskier, soft robotics scientist at CSIRO.
“This gripper replicates the dexterity of a human hand, allowing it to handle delicate coral tissue without damaging it while being strong enough to lift various sizes,” explains Josh.
“By automating this process, we can contribute to broader global efforts to scale coral farming and help restore the world’s reefs.”
To prevent the hand corroding in salt water, the soft robotic hand was 3D printed from hard polymer and soft rubber.
The CHARM coral farming robot
The CHARM (Coral Husbandry Automated Raceway Machine) coral farming robot, equipped with its new soft robotic hand, in action at the CHARM facility on Magnetic Island, Qld. Image credit: courtesy CSIRO
An engineer fitting a robotic hand to the CHARM coral farming robot
3D-printed robotic hand designs
Mechatronics engineer Sarah Baldwin fits the robotic hand to CHARM (Coral Husbandry Automated Raceway Machine); 3D-printed hand designs developed by CSIRO’s AI-powered generative design algorithms. Image credit: courtesy CSIRO
Stephen Rodan, inventor of CHARM and President of Beyond Coral Foundation, emphasises the groundbreaking nature of the project:
“This is the first time in history that a robot apparatus ever picked up a coral and transferred it safely between tanks using a soft robotic gripper of this kind,” Stephen says.
CSIRO and the Beyond Coral Foundation want to roll out this technology in coral farms and aquariums across the world to increase coral production.
“The next challenge is placing the corals back in their natural habitat, and a well-designed gripper could facilitate the transition from growth to deployment,” says Stephen.