Swarm of robot wildlife will check for life in an Italian lagoon

In a lagoon in Venice, robotic lily pads float on the surface, with clusters of electronic mussels resting on the bed below. Meanwhile a robotic fish swims between them exchanging messages.

This isn’t a scene from a watery sci-fi, but instead the setup of an experiment into environmental monitoring and robot culture.

In July, a self-organising team of robots will be released into the murky waters of a lagoon near Venice, Italy. Their main job will be to keep an eye on anoxia – a phenomenon where water loses…