🎬 Multilingual subtitles
✍️ By: Team BC1.NL
Waste Shark eats the litter in the harbour
The Waste Shark catches your eye twice: first for its glossy white hull, then for the clean water it leaves behind. Where cans and plastic normally gather in corners and along quaysides, the surface is spotless wherever this litter shark has passed through the port of Rotterdam.
It eats the floating waste, and once its container is full it empties at a docking station, where it can recharge at the same time.
How does a water robot that collects litter work?
The Waste Shark is a catamaran that collects floating litter, at the time of filming in the ports of Rotterdam and mostly in the corners where it gathers. When it sails over surface waste, it takes that with it in a basket that works like a fish trap. Once the container is full, the computer gets a signal and it returns to its docking station.
Why can't the holes in the basket be too small?
The smallest pieces it catches are determined by the mesh of the basket, and that can in principle be made as fine as you like. But the smaller the holes, the more resistance in the water and the more energy it uses. So the search is for a balance: collect the plastic, without wasting energy.
How long can it sail?
The first prototype collects roughly 25 to 30 litres of waste and sails for eight hours on a full battery. After that, twenty minutes of charging brings the battery back to 80 percent. At the time of filming a radar system was being developed so it can avoid objects in the water by itself.
Can several of them work together?
Yes. Multiple sharks can sail next to each other in formation, and there are magnetic capabilities so they connect to each other automatically when they have to go into the field. Because questions came in from all over the world, larger versions are being considered as well.
Depth surveys, salinity and jellyfish in Saudi Arabia
The Waste Shark was built by Genuin.Engineering for RanMarine Technology.
Its developers are far from finished. They see plenty of other jobs for this water drone: sounding the depth of the seabed, for instance, or measuring how salty the water is. In Saudi Arabia there is interest in a different use altogether, keeping jellyfish under control.
Prevention is better than collection
Clearing waste this way is a fine thing, but the people behind the robot would much rather see less litter reach the water in the first place. Prevention is better than cure.
