Overview
CHARM inventor Stephen Rodan’s love of the ocean motivated him to save coral. Using his expertise in science and engineering, the former NASA engineer developed the Coral Husbandry Automated Raceway Machine (CHARM) – a unique patent-pending technology designed to halt the environmental emergency impacting reefs.
Automating coral colonisation
The CHARM robot is powered renewably and can operate off-grid, anywhere. It’s a fully scalable technology available as a modular addition for existing aquariums or as a complete aquarium system. With an inbuilt capacity to work continuously for 24 hours, CHARM acts as a robot midwife for coral. It can move around the coral aquarium nursery, cleaning, feeding and nurturing the coral babies or planula. Backed by AI technology and blockchain traceability, operators can access the robot’s tools and monitoring equipment remotely and at any time through an easy-to-use interface.
Building a capital bridge and a robot
CHARM successfully applied for matched Kick-Start funding and support from CSIRO. But this success created a cash-flow headache for the start-up to meet the deliverables and timelines of the Kick-Start program.
CHARM Founder Stephen Rodan says, “Fortunately, our network alerted us to the R&D Tax Incentive refund and how we could access it early with a Radium Advance.”
CHARM’s Radium Advance almost doubled the start-up’s available funds for R&D. And the start-up’s Radium Advances enabled it to complete the construction and delivery of the coral farming robot on time for CSIRO.
For more information about CHARM, visit the Beyond Coral Foundation website.
