Robotic Tumbleweeds Used to Analyse the Desert

The desert lives and breathes or so the saying goes. How exactly this occurs is not always clear so green designer, Shlomi Mir, is attempting to get the bottom of it all. To collect information and make predictions about the desert, Mir is looking to set some tech-charged tumbleweeds blowing across the land.

Autor*in Anna Rees, 02.13.14

The desert lives and breathes or so the saying goes. How exactly this occurs is not always clear so green designer, Shlomi Mir, is attempting to get the bottom of it all. To collect information and make predictions about the desert, Mir is looking to set some tech-charged tumbleweeds blowing across the land.

The autonomous robots can be whisked about by the the wind and will primarily be used to collect data about how deserts spread and dunes move in order to help make predictions about what future problems might arise. The tumbleweeds are self-sufficient and are able generate the power they need for the built-in computer, sensors and motor. The route of each robot is dictated by the direction the wind is blowing however, a GPS signal can be coded in when the tumbleweed is inactive.

The project is still in its infancy with the second prototype currently undergoing testing. The longterm goal is populate the desert with numerous tumbleweeds at the same time to cover and study a larger area of land.

Check out the video below for a more detailed look behind the project:

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