A yellow hybrid SUV nicknamed “Echo” is helping researchers track the continent’s inhabitants – emperor penguins. This was reported by Live Science.

The four-wheeled robot is part of the 30-year WHOI program called MARE, which was launched in 2017. In this project, emperor penguins are used as an indicator of the general state of the Antarctic ecosystem. Scientists are documenting how well penguins adapt to climate change and are trying to understand how global warming affects the number and distribution of fish eaten by these flightless seabirds.

The robot is remotely controlled, equipped with a leader for autonomous navigation and GPS technology. Echo also has sensors that help researchers monitor the size of a penguin colony and track the movements and behavior of individuals.

For example, a radio frequency identification (RFID) antenna scans tiny RFID tags that WHOI researchers place in penguin chicks when they are about five months old. According to scientists, 300 people have been tagged every year since the start of the MARE project.

As soon as the robot is within range of the penguin’s RFID tag – to a distance of about 86 cm – it receives information about the bird’s general physical shape and reproductive status, as well as oceanographic data about when the penguin was at sea. .

In addition, the robot is equipped with a 360-degree camera. It allows scientists to identify individual penguins that Echo encountered, and GPS data shows the birds’ range and habitat.

Here’s what Echo’s work in the wild looks like: