Absorbent robots could prove vital in next oil spill clean up

Here's a video that's quite timely given the Mariner Energy oil rig explosion in the Gulf of Mexico.

Researchers at MIT have developed independent robots that use a revolutionary nanomaterial to absorb considerable amounts of oil - up to 20 times their weight. Powered by solar panels, the low-cost robots which are designed to work in fleets, would use GPS and wireless communication systems to navigate a spill site.

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This post was originally published on Smartplanet.com