Experiment

This week, robots! Check out our staff picks of currently fundraising projects, featuring little...


This week, robots! Check out our staff picks of currently fundraising projects, featuring little robots that help us do science.


Featured Experiments:

Using high-tech toys to improve foraging in captive rhinos

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45% FUNDED ● BIOLOGY

Animal behavior is a rich area of study, but one where technology hasn’t yet been introduced. So what happens when you take a high-tech gadget originally designed for house pets, and scale it up for a 3000-pound rhino named Boone? Backers will get an up close look at the science driving the project, or you can check out Boone’s personal twitter. Also watch our recent video from our visit with Boone!



Mapping Salmon Spawning Sites with UAVs

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34% FUNDED ● ECOLOGY

Salmon in the Pacific Northwest are hard to track when they return to spawn in small, often inaccessible creeks. This team from the University of Washington is developing quadcopter drones with cameras to survey remote spots, above the creeks and below the canopy, to generate better population data for land management and habitat restoration. They promise to share methods, data, and recommendations for doing this at home yourself.



Using aphids to measure electrical outputs in ferns

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40% FUNDED ● BIOLOGY

OK, fine, aphids technically aren’t robots, but they are small and this researcher is attaching tiny electrodes to aphids. Not much is known about long distance electrical signals in plants, but thanks to the previously successful Azolla Genome Project funded by 123 backers on Experiment, this project will combine physiological measurements with the new genetic data to find the basis for plant signaling.



Measurement of Atmospheric Pollution Profiles using Drones

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65% FUNDED ● EARTH SCIENCE

These scientists are attaching sensors to drones to get a 3D sense of the ozone surrounding Detroit. While ozone pollution levels can be measured on the ground, how it behaves and settles at different heights is still unclear, as well as how ozone moves downwind from original sources. Pollution contributes to urban respiratory problems such as asthma, especially as rising temperatures lead to more ozone.