Innovation
Absorbent robots could prove vital in next oil spill clean up
Researchers at MIT have developed independent robots that use a revolutionary nanomaterial to absorb considerable amounts of oil - up to 20 times their weight.
![larry-dignan-eic.jpg](https://www.zdnet.com/a/img/resize/ad5eaccb545ef683588243a9891d5f678df042df/2017/04/26/eb462fe7-e39e-43ba-abbd-c4ca2442306e/larry-dignan-eic.jpg?auto=webp&fit=crop&frame=1&height=192&width=192)
Here's a video that's quite timely given the Mariner Energy oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.
Researchers at MIT have developed independent robots that use a revolutionary nanomaterial to absorb considerable amounts of oil - up to 20 times their weight. Powered by solar panels, the low-cost robots which are designed to work in fleets, would use GPS and wireless communication systems to navigate a spill site.
[video=462376]
This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com