Science & Technology
The Army of Autonomous Robots Restoring Nature | Tom Chi | TED
Impact investor Tom Chi challenges a dangerous assumption: that economic growth and ecological health are opposing forces. He reveals how advances in AI and robotics are enabling a radical shift towards innovation as a force for restoration. Imagine mines that extract less, farms that regenerate soil and fleets of robots that can plant 100,000 mangroves…
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@MountMatze
January 1, 2026 at 1:39 pm
Was hat er denn geraucht
@Zanshin001
January 1, 2026 at 1:42 pm
Smart guy! Thanks for the thought provoking and hopeful projects!
@Zanshin001
January 1, 2026 at 1:42 pm
Lol these comments are great
@TwinFishAudio
January 1, 2026 at 1:47 pm
I hope we reach a point that we can use robotics to strip off the top metre of soil, clean it of PFAS, nanoplastics, heavy metals, put it back to improve crop yields via agroforestry while taking the waste stream and treating it as a mining opportunity.
@CornCans
January 1, 2026 at 2:12 pm
We are in Chrono Trigger.
@MostafaHasni-d9f
January 1, 2026 at 2:50 pm
فارسی زبان داریم
@virtualfather
January 1, 2026 at 3:02 pm
More more more…
@wholeness
January 1, 2026 at 3:08 pm
Once AI embodies we will either right all our wrongs or move on from existence.
@rabokarabekian409
January 1, 2026 at 3:19 pm
What are essential features of being human?
What about being human is worth perpetuating?
Might we not initiate better replacements of ourselves?
Look up the movie, “The Artifice Girl” for some illustrations and more questions to ponder.
@user-fc4lg3ll7v
January 1, 2026 at 3:44 pm
Tom Chi is always 💯. This kind of thinking is the only legit use of robots, nature restoration.
@markmuller7962
January 1, 2026 at 3:46 pm
Truly revolutionary, some very much needed optimism
@sylviewalker7560
January 1, 2026 at 4:12 pm
Mother Nature knows exactly how to fix things. Never does she require ‘robots to fix anything’…climate disruption is…a big deal. Earth will be fine…humans…not so much. We, humans, are so ‘smart we are stupid’.
@sylviewalker7560
January 1, 2026 at 4:20 pm
Leave it in the 🌎 earth plane. Extraction, domination, god like control over natural systems is crazy. Point of source is nothing but introducing chemicals that do not belong into headwaters and watersheds. GMO’S have harmed natural processes that have disconnected farmers from soil and food source.
@ReconSurvival
January 1, 2026 at 4:37 pm
Very cool! I’m working on this problem too
@jeromethibodeau4378
January 1, 2026 at 4:51 pm
Bugs, fungus, heatwaves, plant the robots, at least you’ll have something to look at, and they won’t burn down to the ground.
@George-rq1yp
January 1, 2026 at 5:09 pm
This is where AI and robotics should focus on as imminent priority and government should fund R&D activities to realize the potential ASAP in the next 3 years.
@George-rq1yp
January 1, 2026 at 5:14 pm
Already best video of 2026!
@beonlife3283
January 1, 2026 at 5:20 pm
What needs to change most is human behavior😅
@LightyKD_
January 1, 2026 at 5:26 pm
So… Horizon Zero Dawn 🤔. Do these “tech bros” seriously NOT watch SciFi?
@rerawho
January 1, 2026 at 5:48 pm
Leave nature alone. It restores itself.
@trevor6607
January 1, 2026 at 5:55 pm
Amazing and inspirational
@AlexanderYap
January 1, 2026 at 6:24 pm
We need more robots to do things like clean up micro-plastic from the oceans, remove land mines from warzones, etc.
@hakikitosunpasabenim3088
January 1, 2026 at 6:32 pm
Because we, average people, are not the ones destroying the planet. Rich people are busy with doing that. Luxuries are the biggest destroyers of the planet. Private jets, 20 bedroom houses, luxurious hotels and restaurants are the one to blame, not us an average citizen driving 20 miles per day, eating $20 food per day
@DorsalisWA
January 1, 2026 at 6:42 pm
The robots are out in nature and the humans are inside looking at a screen.
100yrs ago the human population was about 2 billion.
Its now over eight billion.
Salesmen never mention the population problem.
@jalalcsri9031
January 1, 2026 at 7:17 pm
❤❤❤❤❤
@afterglow5285
January 1, 2026 at 7:54 pm
Drill baby Drill.
@coolsisters7567
January 2, 2026 at 2:44 pm
This is so inspiring.
@unipartywonagainstthepeople
January 2, 2026 at 2:48 pm
Planting isn’t as valuable as water/ nutrients retention structures
@Myrlin8
January 2, 2026 at 2:56 pm
Ta Da 🙂 Another physicist looking at ‘the problem’. Hi Bro 🙂 tks. nice talk.
@peterpetrov6522
January 2, 2026 at 3:01 pm
👏Very cool! Never seen a drone do something positive before…
Moral ethical people shouldn’t be afraid of technology. They should use it and design it. Public funding for such companies or projects can be done with “crypto.” I’m sure there’s a way. It probably doesn’t exist yet. If you are young and smart–Figure it out!
@LeonFenech1
January 2, 2026 at 3:01 pm
❤
@aacallison1535
January 2, 2026 at 3:03 pm
I agree with several of you. Let’s get the police to get robots to collect trash from our roads and rivers. Scan it for fingerprints and DNA.
And go get the perpetrators.
After all our government has everyone’s fingerprints, not just previously arrested people.
@TehachapiWizard1
January 2, 2026 at 4:30 pm
What a waste of friggin’ time. Total surveillance state. Your own lovely dystopia.
And then record everything everyone says, so they can go after people who say unpopularity things, and maybe eventually monitor their thoughts as well.
@canadien325
January 2, 2026 at 3:03 pm
Planting trees don’t help. You have to create a forest
@1001Balance
January 2, 2026 at 3:11 pm
People don’t need robots, they need water, you tech bro idi ot
@showersB4bed
January 2, 2026 at 3:26 pm
If a robot falls in the forest does anybody hear?
@bm8641
January 2, 2026 at 3:32 pm
We need robots sorting out garbage, cleaning streets and rivers. Humans stink.
@winedotchris
January 2, 2026 at 3:40 pm
There are tens of thousands of Americans who would love to work outside in teams in jobs with health coverage and live in rural areas, but this guy says we need to use our taxes to pay California tech companies so they design robots for this job
@daleblackwell3551
January 2, 2026 at 4:17 pm
Don’t we already have over 3,000,000,000,000 trees?
I don’t get it
@nelsondisalvatore9812
January 2, 2026 at 5:00 pm
Why cant we hype this video??
@cfm6229
January 2, 2026 at 5:07 pm
How bout making robots that fight the wildfires !!!!!!
@ardeshirmehta9327
January 2, 2026 at 5:36 pm
This is so absurd. Everything we use is either mined or grown? Is sunshine mined or grown? Is the oxygen we breathe? Is rainwater, without which we could not grow anything? Is a waterfall, with which we can grind our grain? Is our intellect, without which we would have no economy, mined or grown? Is the economy itself mined or grown? Is language, without which we could not even be discussing this, mined or grown? How silly! HOW silly!🎉
@MegaloManiac98
January 2, 2026 at 5:59 pm
Finally someone with a platform speaking the truth
@mouserr
January 2, 2026 at 6:12 pm
stupid idea, its already been demonstrated that planting trees en masse doesnt work as intended but ignore the on the ground facts for the idea that sounds good … like i said stupid idea
@barbarasherman3865
January 2, 2026 at 6:34 pm
The “ physicist” doesn’t untether differences between ecology and the ecos.
@footloose1187
January 2, 2026 at 7:01 pm
A lot of cow dung coming from TED nowadays. This video is example!
@keithnance4209
January 2, 2026 at 7:21 pm
I hate the scare tactics of “climate change”. Scientists have been so woefully wrong about the entire narrative…treating the general public with disdain and contempt like an entitled academic. Simply put, if any climate change conversation occurs that doesn’t include China, then it is a moot point.
@grayorganization
January 2, 2026 at 7:36 pm
Absolutely amazing
@edwardtan8307
January 2, 2026 at 7:49 pm
Hair looks like plastic.
@MjMurphy777
January 2, 2026 at 7:51 pm
You are a wonderful man doing wonderful things💕👏🏻
@elchefreedom5063
January 2, 2026 at 8:04 pm
Have robots do landscape work in the heat… 😂
@CalifornianViking
January 2, 2026 at 8:26 pm
Not everything is mined or grown. Gasses are extracted from air.
The correct term is that everything is extracted or grown.
@ww07ff
January 3, 2026 at 6:36 am
A consortium of nations should invest in research and development of low-energy biological processes that convert plastic waste into sustainable aviation fuel (SAF). Simultaneously, international regulations should be updated to mandate the use of SAF across the aviation industry. This dual approach would not only drive innovation but also increase the market value of discarded plastics, making reverse logistics economically viable and fostering a circular economy.
@cleanwave4336
January 3, 2026 at 7:51 am
While planting trees is excellent for carbon capture and local cooling, in arid or water-scarce regions, planting a million “thirsty” trees can actually lead to a net loss in local water availability (rivers and wells drying up). Location location location
@ernestoisjust1048
January 3, 2026 at 9:21 am
“…fewer inputs and higher margins every single year.” minute 10:14
He is an “Impact Investor” after all…pass.
@Charlie-UK
January 3, 2026 at 9:40 am
Thousands of Trees were planted in the UK, in a robotic fashion. Admittedly not by Robots, but without due care and consideration. They all died from lack of water. Robots can not water sapling trees, or remove weeds to ensure they have the best chance of success. Neither can they provide the Human attention to detail that they require. Every problem can’t be solved by, Obscenely rich US Tech Bro’s and their frankly rather ludicrous, lumbering Robots. That seem to fall over, at every opportunity when people are taking selfies with them. Some people need to take a good long hard look at themselves, this isn’t the way…
@daviddalley3198
January 3, 2026 at 10:31 am
Did anyone else here the very loud silence when there should have been some sort of recognition of achievement. Greet ideas but by reaction not much hope.
@optickilo2721
January 3, 2026 at 10:54 am
I put this exact idea into an idea start up company back in 2010. Takes your ideas and creates from it and will let you know if they ever use your inventions. Good to know it’s being put to use.
@Mtaalas
January 3, 2026 at 11:08 am
This will not revive the natural ecosystem. It’ll create monocultures. Real jungle is diverse, codependent network of tens of thousands of different species all COMPETING for the living space. You plant billion trees of the same make? You’ll create monoculture that is not resistant to disease and will choke out any competition.
Forest restoration can’t be automated or streamlined… it’s not about efficiency.
@jeff5101
January 3, 2026 at 11:13 am
This is dumb, that guy is dumb.
@L8again902
January 3, 2026 at 11:42 am
Destroying the world, one robot at a time.
@stevefisher2553
January 3, 2026 at 11:55 am
Ai is NOT interested in planting trees…..
@renecouture3719
January 3, 2026 at 11:57 am
Amazing work!
@MarkOfArgyll
January 3, 2026 at 11:57 am
I’ve worked in the forestry sector planting trees, in real world conditions every single automated experiment has failed for numerous reasons. Soil density, moisture levels, mineral content, vegetive content, incline, to name a few cause machines to fail. Planting by hand continues to be the most reliable method. I’ve no doubt that at some point someone will actually come up with the solution that works universally but we are not there yet.
@ianclark9598
January 3, 2026 at 12:29 pm
This is not an accurate portrayal of reality. Much of the economy has been built upon violence against nature. Lands mined with no regard towards the devastation caused, with only profit in mind. The attitude has always been ‘let someone else clear it up. I’ve got my buck’.
@007hansen
January 3, 2026 at 1:04 pm
Presentations in school: “You need to provide sources”
80% of TED speakers: “Trust me bro”
@OliEveryDayIsAnOliDay-ez2dy
January 3, 2026 at 1:05 pm
❤
@willydobbo79
January 3, 2026 at 1:10 pm
This dude is the personification of hope ❤
@rudihoffman2817
January 3, 2026 at 2:22 pm
I’ve just seen the early part of this, and I’m already annoyed by the antithesis of economy vs, ecology, and the multiple oversimplified statements unsupported by references or evidence. Maybe it will get better? Oh, wait, he IS an accomplished technologist and engineer, I judged too early, sorry.
@tsuntav
January 3, 2026 at 2:49 pm
And by going VEGANIC (consumers purchasing vegan organic products) frees up billions of acres of land, allowing for mass native reforestation, and the recoralization of the oceanic ecosystem using Reefgen, thus reversing climate and environmental damage and elevating ethical standards globally.
@JakeRichardsong
January 3, 2026 at 2:59 pm
There are EV batteries that last longer than 10 years. Also, some of them are repurposed for stationery energy storage.
@GM4ThePeople
January 3, 2026 at 4:49 pm
“Tom Chi” is an anusgram for ” ‘Mo Itch”. o/
@StacyCason-y6l
January 3, 2026 at 5:00 pm
Please don’t drop your t’s. It’s coTTon not coDDon.
@grundyian1
January 3, 2026 at 5:01 pm
Thank you.
@ivymeadows1944
January 3, 2026 at 5:01 pm
That’s still a monoculture they’ve planting and serves no purpose. A forest of nothing but mangroves won’t survive long, biodiversity is necessary for an ecosystem to thrive, not many copies of a single plant.
@martiwilliams8091
January 3, 2026 at 5:10 pm
Amazing presentation- thank you
@MommyChompin
January 3, 2026 at 7:23 pm
Instead of “Nature,” I would just use the word, reality. This idea that humans are somehow removed from nature is baffling. We’re inexorably intertwined; even when we synthesize something, it could still be considered technically natural. Touching on the food topic, we don’t selectively breed for nutrition, only shelf life stability. This removes the flavor and over half the nutrients found in non-hybridized agricultural products. I think it would be quicker to face some ugly truths, rather than trying to work around our own self-importance.