Shoreline erosion is deteriorating coastal regions around the world, but for Stefan Teodorescu and his new robot, the solution isn’t eroding with the coast.
The first-year Carleton University aerospace engineering student designed “Mangrover,” a robot that streamlines the laborious planting process of its namesake tree, the mangrove.
Mangrover won top honours at the 2024 Canadian Robotics Olympiad, leading Teodorescu and his high school classmate, Oscar Barbieri, to present Mangrover as a solution to shoreline erosion in Turkey at the 2024 World Robotics Olympiad.
The Charlatan sat down with Teodorescu to discuss Mangrover and environmental resilience growing alongside robotics.
The Charlatan (TC): What is Mangrover?
Stefan Teodorescu (ST): It’s a robot that plants mangrove seeds. Mangroves are a type of tree with aerial roots that grow in tropical coastal regions, mostly sandy marshy areas. They act as a natural erosion barrier and very strong carbon sinks. They foster biodiversity as well because they provide a unique habitat for many endangered species.
If we want to start planting wide stretches, we need to automate the process. It’s not efficient to just have volunteers doing it over and over.
TC: What inspired you to pursue the Mangrover idea?
ST: My aunt went on a trip to the Pacific islands and she sent me some photos of mangrove plantations on beaches. There’d be just the charities who were planting the mangrove seeds to protect it from erosion.
I looked more into the process, it’s very repetitive—it’s just somebody who takes these seeds and jams them in the sand or marsh, hours on end in a grid. It’s very easy to make a robot that could do that.
TC: How does Mangrover actually work?
ST: We built a rover, which you can set in a predefined geofenced area, so just the coordinates of four corners of a square, and you put the robot in one of the corners of that square. The robot will stay within the bounds of that square and autonomously follow a zig-zagging path, avoid obstacles and plant rows after rows of mangrove seeds.
TC: What is the threat of shoreline erosion?
ST: With climate change, many storms or other meteorological events are becoming more and more violent and a lot of coastal regions are mostly formed of sand. This means that if you have a hurricane and you have large waves, these waves are going to slowly, with time, wash away the sand.
TC: Why is Mangrover’s mission important to you?
ST: It’s something that’s very overlooked. Usually when we think of solutions to problems caused by climate change, you think about stuff like electric vehicles.I thought this was different. Something that’s not as easily visible, but also very powerful.
TC: Why is it important to focus on less visible climate solutions?
ST: If everybody concentrates on all the same things, we’re going to overlook the other things. Climate change is really a wicked problem with a lot of ramifications, so we have to think about more widespread prevention measures and what other stuff we can do.
TC: How do national accolades and bringing Mangrover to the international stage impact your mission?
ST: By doing these competitions you develop the skills to research, to find a problem, to create a product that addresses this problem.
This is what I think is beneficial for the rest of humanity from these competitions: you’re creating a generation of problem solvers.
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.
Featured image provided by Kyla Silva.
