(Photo : Photo by Roxanne Minnish from Pexels)
The sloth, suspended under a dense canopy of leaves, makes slow strides. Slowly, painfully long. Slowly but deliberately. The little creature, crawling high among the trees and traipsing over a 100-foot steel wire, resembles a sluggish acrobat. Its aim, however, is not to entertain or put on a show; in reality, it is the polar opposite. It s all about stealth, observation, and soaking in as much sunshine as possible for this sloth. This is, after all, a solar-powered robot.
SlothBot
(Photo : Screenshot from Georgia Tech YouTube Channel)
SlothBot is under the direct supervision of the researchers who designed it at the Atlanta Botanical Garden. You will see the robot s googly eyes and 3D-printed shell as you walk along the garden s elevated Canopy Walk. The sloth does not seem to be gathering critical environmental data such as temperature and carbon dioxide levels, but it is.