This article was taken from the January 2014 issue of Wired magazine. Be the first to read Wired's articles in print before they're posted online, and get your hands on loads of additional content by subscribing online.
Tumbleweed is usually a sign of desolation, but it has inspired an Israeli designer as a way to revivify barren landscapes. Shlomi Mir's Tumbleweed Desert is an autonomous robot that uses the wind for propulsion. "We don't know much about how deserts spread and how dunes move," says Mir. "We need more information in order to develop algorithms to predict where the next problems will be -- and how it's possible to fix them."
In its current prototype form, Tumbleweed Desert gathers that data and transmits it home (a kinetic generator powers the communications equipment). Although the device can't control its direction, it can decide when to move: to stay put, it adopts a squashed shape. When it wants to go with the flow, it expands into a ball and catches the breeze.
Mir, who previously developed bomb-dismantling robots for the Israeli army, is now creating a simpler, more rugged version. In 2014 he will experiment with 20 devices scattered in the field, but he envisages hundreds of Tumbleweeds to map out larger territories.
Ultimately, he hopes the project could halt desertification by ejecting plant-seeds in strategic locations. "Or maybe someone will invent a nanobot that eats sand and converts it into fertiliser,"
Mir says. "Tumbleweed Desert is just a tool."
This article was originally published by WIRED UK
