Underwater Robot Vacuums up Lionfish

The beautiful but deadly lionfish has devastated coral reefs around Bermuda and other places in the Atlantic Ocean. Native to the Middle East and Pacific Ocean， lionfish have no natural predators here. They have become invasive species， which eat many native species on the reefs. But a new robot could help efforts to control the invaders. It captures these fish. （A） □ And one day diners may eat the robots catch.

“Its essentially a robotic vacuum that zaps and sucks fish，” says Erika Angle. She is a biochemist and co-founder of the biotechnology company Ixcela in Bedford， Mass. She also works with a number of non-profit and outreach organizations. One of them， Robots in Service of the Environment （RSE）， built the lionfish-hunting robot. At an April 2017 demonstration， her team dropped several lionfish into a large， saltwater pool. It was near the ocean in the West Atlantic island nation of Bermuda. Angle sat nearby. （B） □ Using the joystick from a video-game controller， she steered the underwater robot.

During the demo， Angle saw through the robots “eyes”. What that vision system picked up appeared on a laptop screen in front of her. Carefully， the scientist nudged the joystick on the controller. As she did， the robot scooted closer to a large， spiky lionfish.

A crowd of onlookers watched. Would Angles robot catch the fish？ “Everybody was waiting with bated breath，” the scientist recalls. Finally， she pushed a button. Zap！ The robot sent an electric shock through the water. This stunned the fish， which now drifted， motionless. （C） □ The crowd cheered as Angle grinned.

Inspiration for the robot struck when she and her husband， Colin Angle， were vacationing in Bermuda. While scuba diving with some locals， they saw lionfish on the reef. （D） □ On a boat after the dive， the group started talking about the invasive species. Several local residents had been dealing with lionfish for years. They knew that Colin Angle had co-founded the company iRobot， which makes robotic vacuum cleaners such as the Roomba. And so the group challenged the Angles to use robotics to help solve their lionfish problem.

1. Why can the lionfish become so dominant in the marine ecosystem around Bermuda？

A） Because they are very aggressive towards other species.

B） Because no animals can kill and eat them.

C） Because no fishermen venture into the area to catch them.

D） Because the lionfish have very strong productive capacity.endprint

2. What is the scientists ultimate purpose to build the robot？

A） To demonstrate how robot can help with the environmental protection.

B） To help fishermen catch lionfish and move them onto our dinner plates.

C） To use it to study the breeding.

D） To use it to catch the lionfish and curb the invasive species.

3. Which of the following from the passage has the same meaning as “bullies” ？

A） invaders B） onlookers C） robots D） biochemists

4. Look at the four squares □ that indicate where the following sentence can be added to the passage.

The robot used this opportunity to slowly suck the animal into a holding chamber.

Where would the sentence best fit？

5. What prompted Erika Angle to design the robot？

A） The local residents talking about the invasive species

B） Her company Ixcelas assignment

C） Inspiration from other robotic designers

D） Restaurants demand for lionfishendprint