Ocean Alliance Partners with Olin College to Develop Snotbot Quadrotor for Whale Sample Collection
Ocean Alliance is a research organization focused on whales and marine life, studying toxicology, behavior, bioacoustics, and genetics. Human activity is responsible for tens of thousands of whale deaths each year. By documenting these impacts, Ocean Alliance aims to enable future mitigation strategies. Last summer, Ocean Alliance launched a Kickstarter campaign to fund the Snotbot, a specialized quadcopter that collects whale blow samples without disturbing the animals. With the support of actor Patrick Stewart, the campaign met its goal. Watch the video featuring Patrick Stewart at the end of this post. In partnership with Olin College of Engineering, the Snotbot was designed to hover over breaching whales and capture exhaled blow for scientific analysis. One of the biggest engineering challenges was ensuring reliable landings on a moving vessel at sea. Early prototypes, though constructed from composite lay‑ups, repeatedly failed during turbulent water landings, shattering the landing gear. Olin College quickly prototyped a new landing gear in under a day, with a material cost of $34.79. Did it work? Read the full Snotbot case study or watch the video below. Interested in seeing the upgraded Mark Two in action? Request a Demo today.Impact Resistance & the Mark One
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