Teens' robot plants trees

Can technology help solve environmental problems facing our planet? Sometimes. And sometimes those solutions come from the youngest among us.

This inspiring article in Smithsonian magazine about two teenagers in Portugal is bound to lift your spirits. Not only because of the utility of the invention they developed, but because at such a young age they did this.

Since the early 2000s, Portugal has lost over half of its forest cover, triggering erosion, water loss, and biodiversity collapse. The cause of the loss? Rampant forest fires exacerbated by rising temperatures and low fuel mosistures. To accelerate reforestation, these teens devised and produced a six-legged robot that can walk on rugged slopes and replant trees more efficiently and cost-effectively than conventional methods. In early testing, the hexapod robot carried and planted up to 200 saplings per hour! Recognized by National Geographic's Slingshot Challenge, this technology may help revolutionize reforestation across the globe.

Portugese landscape architect Miguel Jeronimo states, "The concept of a six-legged robot designed to move across steep slopes and dense vegegation offers a practical framework for reforestation in areas that are unsafe or diffeicult for people to access."

This is worth a read.