(http://blog NULL.aquabio NULL.us/wp-content/uploads/2010/08/seaswarm NULL.png)At least that’s what the folks over at Seaswarm(MIT) would like you to think. Necessity being the Mother of invention and all, these autonomous little buggers would be able to clean up 20 times their own weight in oil. Solar powered, GPS guided worker bees that could be easily produced and deployed to work 24/7 repairing and protecting fragile ecosystems and the resulting damage that petroleum dependence brings. We say excellent… [print_link]

“Seaswarm, as they call it, basically works like a maxi pad. A patented hydrophobic nanofabric devours as much as 20 times its own weight in oil without collecting water. To capture the oil, the nanofabric’s draped over a conveyor belt that’s then dispatched on the surface of the ocean like “a rolling carpet,” to quote Assaf Biderman, associate director of MIT’s Senseable City Lab. The robot’s entirely autonomous; it swims along, powered by a pair of solar panels.”

After the video have a better look at them here and here.

Popularity: 26% [? (http://alexking NULL.org/projects/wordpress/popularity-contest)]