Header image: John Greenaway. Robot on the Taff. Flickr. Creative Commons
Testing for DNA presence in our waterways is a critical step for preventing diseases and invasive species from spreading through society, causing economic and ecological damage.
Such testing has primarily been done by humans, but an aquatic robot developed by a team of U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) researchers and the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI) may have changed that. Thanks to AI, testing our waterways for invasive species may be easier and faster.
So how does it work? What does this aquatic robot look like? Are these robots swimming through Montana’s rivers today, testing for invasive species? Read on to find out.
In this article:
- What is this aquatic robot?
- Why is this important?
- Who created this aquatic robot?
- How does it work?
- What are the advantages of using aquatic robots to test our waterways?
- Next time I’m out on the river in Montana, will I see robots swimming through the water?
What is this aquatic robot?
This aquatic robot, also called an Environmental Sampler Processor (ESP), is essentially a robot that can independently collect water samples from a body of water, quickly and accurately process them for DNA analysis, and reveal the presence of an invasive organism in the water.
Why is this important?
DNA testing of water samples in our natural waterways has always been done manually by humans.
Some invasive species in our waters are especially difficult to detect and require multiple, frequent tests – like searching for a needle in a haystack.
The aquatic robot, or ESP, may allow scientists to conduct more frequent, accurate DNA testing of waterways on a lower budget while easing the burden of manual sampling and analysis.
Who created this aquatic robot?
A group of researchers and specialists from various organizations originally teamed up in 2020 to develop and test this aquatic robot.
The team includes:
- USGS researcher Elliot Barnhart from the Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center (WY-MT WSC)
- Adam Sepulveda from the Northern Rocky Mountain Science Center, (NOROCK)
- Other colleagues from the WY-MT WSC, Idaho Water Science Center, and Upper Midwest Environmental Science Center
Funding for the study partially came from the USGS National Innovation Center partnered with the Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute (MBARI).
Other reading: Why is Montana called ‘The Treasure State’?
How does this aquatic robot work?
The aquatic robot, or ESP, conducts robotic environmental DNA (eDNA) sampling – it automates water sample collection, filtration, preservation, and DNA analysis, and its design is based on a robot for marine environment applications.
Elliott Barnhart, USGS, USGS Wyoming-Montana Water Science Center. Public domain
While we weren’t able to get an exact breakdown of how this aquatic robot works in rivers, here’s what we gathered:
- The robot is placed near USGS streamgage sites in a small cabin along the banks of the river (unlike other water robots that may float, swim, or be submerged under water).
- A pump draws water from the river to the robot.
- The robot automatically filters and tests the water samples for various DNA presence.
- The system is powered either via line power or solar panels.
Testing the robots
The researchers deployed these aqua robots on the Yellowstone River watershed in Montana and the Upper Snake River in Idaho.
They suspected that automation might allow scientists to overcome some of the constraints involved with traditional, manual sampling and testing.
However, they needed answers to several key questions: “How frequently can it conduct tests?”, and “Are the results accurate?”.
Are the results accurate?
After comparing the eDNA collected at a high frequency (ex. once every 3 hours) via the aqua robot with manual eDNA collections at a lower frequency (ex. weekly), researchers learned that the results from both were similar.
The aqua robot successfully detected DNA from human and fish pathogens in its collected water samples at a rate comparable to the traditional, manual methods, and samples from both methods produced similar information about DNA presence in the water.
While this is an obvious success, the advantages are multifold.
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What are the advantages of using aqua robots to test our waterways?
Here are the advantages of aquatic robotic sampling over manual sampling:
- Durability. The robot can withstand harsh environments and may be deployed safely in hazard zones, such as radioactive sites or where there are water-borne viruses.
- Access. The robot allows researchers to collect and test waterways in hard-to-access sites.
- 24/7 sampling. Scientists can program the aquatic robot to sample at any time, day or night, producing a higher sampling frequency (ex. hourly or daily) than is possible or cost-effective via human labor.
- Frequency. The aquanaut robot’s high-frequency detection capability helps detect species that aren’t widespread. Finding the DNA of such organisms is like searching for a needle in a haystack – you have to search through much more hay to detect it.
- Efficiency. The aquatic robot can collect and preserve water samples for later analysis.
- Speed. The aquatic robot can perform select rapid analyses.
- Coverage. The robot may help resource managers monitor for biological threats to waterways across wide geographic areas in shorter periods of time.
- Cost-savings. Automatic sampling, filtering, preservation, and testing is more cost-effective than using manual methods.
Ultimately, these advantages, paired with the robots’ ability to communicate results to end-users (ex. researchers) in a remote location may allow early detection and warning of disease or other water-quality issues.
This could give resource managers more time to limit invasive species from spreading and prevent widespread economic and ecological damage.
Other reading: Is Montana safe?
Next time I’m out on the river in Montana, will I see robots swimming through the water?
As far as we know, these aquatic robots are currently in the research and testing phase, and they have not been deployed on a large scale.
But even if these robots are ever deployed on a larger scale, you won’t see them swimming through our rivers. Because they aren’t underwater robots, they’ll be sitting in cozy cabins along the river banks at USGS streamgage sites.
The full potential of these aquatic robots remains to be seen. Researchers will know their full potential as they continue their testing and development, after which we may see greater deployment, though you probably wouldn’t even notice them on the water, which may be a good thing.
Detecting the Quagga and Zebra mussel with aquatic robots
The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service continues funding the project to detect the invasive Quagga and Zebra mussels – mussels that accumulate toxins as they filter water, which can be harmful to humans, birds, and dogs.
While these aquatic robots are in development, enjoy your time on Montana’s rivers. And rest assured water quality testing is slowly developing behind the scenes.
FAQ – Aquatic robots
Below are answers to a few commonly asked questions about aquatic robots.
What are the types of aquatic robots?
There are a variety of aquatic robots, but most of them either float atop water, swim through water, or crawl through water, depending on their purpose.
Where are aquatic robots used?
Aquatic robots worldwide perform various functions in freshwater and seawater. For example, they may study underwater animals and their habitats, collect data on the water itself, perform rescues, conduct resource exploration, assist with topographic mapping, or support the construction and maintenance of engineering structures.
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