← All projects

Project 01

Coral Reef Probiotic Dispenser

An autonomous underwater dispenser that doses probiotics onto heat-stressed coral for months at a time. Swappable reservoirs, magnetic-drive mixing, encoder-controlled pumps, and a companion app for programming dose schedules. Deployed in the Red Sea and showcased at the Malaysia Technology Expo 2023.

Coral Reefs

Coral reefs are essential to marine biodiversity, serving as habitats for a wide range of marine life. However, they are increasingly threatened by climate change, pollution, and human activity. Rising temperatures in the euphotic zone (0–30 meters) accelerate coral bleaching, posing a serious risk to reef ecosystems. To combat this, a solution has been developed to automatically deliver a probiotic solution locally to coral reefs to rehabilitate affected corals or to protect young growing coral during hot periods. Recent research has led to the development of a tailored probiotic blend based on micro-fauna found in heat-tolerant coral species, offering a promising intervention strategy.

4 Reservoir version

The initial prototype features four 500 cc reservoirs. Each reservoir houses a magnetic impeller driven via a magnetic gear assembly, allowing for quick and easy replacement. Dosing is handled by modified diaphragm pumps with an accuracy margin of ±5 cc. The device is programmable through a companion application and operates autonomously for up to two months on a single battery charge.

6 Reservoir version

This version represents a significant advancement in capability and precision. It supports six 900 cc reservoirs arranged into two banks (A and B), enabling flexible probiotic blending. The system incorporates an improved, encoder-based dosing controller with 1 cc resolution and a dosing network that delivers probiotics through 10 programmable channels. Each channel can be independently configured for volume, frequency, and temperature-proportional dosing, allowing dynamic adaptation to ambient water conditions. This version is capable of six months of autonomous operation.