6. NUSwan
A lake may not seem like a place you would typically find robots, but NUSwan takes to it like a duck to water. Jointly developed by the National University of Singapore and Singapore’s Public Utilities Board, the inexpensive robot not only looks like a graceful swan but is also capable of monitoring water quality in real time.
NUSwan is equipped with sensors that can track the level of dissolved oxygen, chlorophyll, turbidity and pH. It is currently being pilot tested at Pandan Reservoir, where it is guided by global positioning system (GPS) and wirelessly communicates results to a cloud server. Its inventors say it may someday also be able to predict algal blooms.