According to a research, Forabot: Automated Planktic Foraminifera Isolation and Imaging, published in the open-access journal Geochemistry, Geophysics, Geosystems, North Carolina State University have developed and demonstrated a robot named Forabot which capable of sorting, manipulating and identifying microscopic marine fossils.
What is ‘Forabot’?
- Forabot has an accuracy rate of 79 per cent for identifying forams, which is better than most trained humans.
- Forabot is capable of identifying six different types of foram and processing 27 forams per hour.
- The robot’s AI uses images to identify the type of foram and sorts it accordingly.
Foraminifera –
- Foraminifera, also called forams, are very simple micro-organisms that secrete a tiny shell, a little longer than a millimetre.
- The organisms have existed in our oceans for more than 100 million years.
- When forams die, they leave behind their shells.
- Examining their shells give scientists insights into the characteristics of the oceans from a time when the forams were alive.
- Different types of foram species thrive in different ocean environments and chemical measurements can tell scientists everything from the ocean’s chemistry to its temperature when the shell was being formed.
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