Crown-of-thorns starfish (COTS) are one of the biggest threats to the Great Barrier Reef (GBR). These starfish literally eat coral, and while native to the GBR, have bred to unsustainable plague numbers across the reef. Current population control of COTS outbreaks requires the manual injection of bile salts into each starfish. However, the sheer number of COTS and the size of the GBR means that new and complementary approaches are required.

A revolutionary new advancement in robotic environmental monitoring and management, called the crown-of-thorns starfish robot (COTSbot) is the world’s first robotic submersible, created to automatically seek out and inject COTS with the toxin. The goal is to provide a tool for upscaling the control of COTS numbers, which are responsible for an estimated 40 per cent of the reef’s total decline in coral cover.

The unique aspect of the COTSbot is that it can see and think for itself. It uses a specialised visual recognition system to identify COTS in the visually challenging environment of the GBR using algorithms from the Australian Centre for Robotic Vision. The robot is designed to cruise about a metre above the coral surface, looking for COTS. When it sees one, a robotic arm extends to inject the starfish with bile salts, proven by James Cook University to be effective in controlling COTS numbers within 24 hours of application. The COTSbot prototype was proven during trials on the GBR and has now been redesigned for increased production, usability and deployment by a range of user groups including researchers, marine park authorities, and citizen scientists.