What is Forabot?
26-08-2023
11:03 AM
1 min read
Overview:
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.
About 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.
Q1) What are Foraminifera?
Foraminifera are amoeba-like, single-celled protists (very simple micro-organisms) called as 'armoured amoebae' because they secrete a tiny shell usually between about a half and one millimetre long.
Source: Down to Earth
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