Preserving Chile's water with solar-powered robots

EPFL researchers have developed floating, solar-powered robots to help protect Chile's water reservoirs. These low-cost robots can be assembled together in a variety of ways on the water surface to prevent the water from evaporating - thereby preserving a precious resource in this arid country and one that's crucial to its biggest industry: winemaking. Preserving water is a real challenge in hot, dry parts of the world. "Farmers in these countries often cover water reservoirs with thousands of tiny plastic balls, a kind of tarp or a large umbrella to prevent the water from evaporating. But these systems can be expensive to set up and take down - and they can't adapt to the water surface as evaporation causes it to change size and shape," says Jamie Paik, the head of EPFL's  Reconfigurable Robotics Lab  (RRL) and a professor at the School of Engineering. Researchersfrom RRL, working in association with a scientist from Universidad Adolfo Ibáñez in Chile, have developed a water-preservation system tailored specifically to Chile's winegrowing region as part of a project sponsored by EPFL's  Cooperation & Development Center. Robust, flexible and modular origami robots Their system involves robots that look like little floating tiles.