A team of scientists from around the world have joined forces in the SeaClear project with the aim of removing plastic from the ocean floor with a new, impressive method.
Seabed cleanups are usually managed by humans, but SeaClear is working to create a system that allows us to sit back while autonomous robots do all the hard work.
The mothership controls with drones and robots
The system consists of a mother ship that floats on the surface, like a small control center and provides the robots with electricity and computer power.
A drone is hovering above the mother ship, equipped with cameras that are used to scan the sea surface and map where the plastic waste can be found.
A drone searches the surface for floating plastic. Floating plastic suggests that plastic is also found on the ocean floor.
Mother provides robots with electricity and computer power and also accepts the plastic waste found.
The robot uses spectroscopic cameras and microphones to distinguish between animals and plants and garbage.
The cleaning boat is equipped with suction cups and grab arms to collect the plastic and transport it to the mother ship.
All information is then sent to the country i.e. technicians can monitor the work.
Under the sea level there are two submarines. Another is equipped with spectral cameras that can take pictures in poor visibility, as well as microphones that the robot uses to find plastic waste in the sea. The other robot is a cleaning boat that does the hard work and removes the debris.
Data from the submarines is transmitted to the mother ship, where it is combined with data from the drone. The idea is that if there is a lot of plastic waste on the surface and in the ocean, there is probably also a lot of debris on the seabed below.
Once the waste has been identified, the cleaning boat starts working. It is equipped with suction cups and grab arms used to collect the plastic and transfer it to the mother ship.
The automated mother ship will have plenty to do: 86 million tons of plastic end up in the world’s oceans every year and approx. 90 percent of it settles on the ocean floor.
Artificial intelligence distinguishes car tires from marine animals
The mother ship is in constant contact with people on land who monitor the progress and can possibly give instructions to the robots, although human intervention is generally not needed.
The computer on board the mother ship uses artificial intelligence to analyze data from the drone and other submarines. The scientists are currently teaching the artificial intelligence device how to identify waste and distinguish it from plants and marine animals by having the device look at images from vast online databases.
SeaClear conducts continuous research with the equipment at a depth of 20-30 meters in an environment where it can be assumed that the equipment will be useful in the future: In the port of Hamburg, where visibility is particularly poor, and at a tourist destination near Dubrovnik in Croatia, where the visibility is brilliant, but beachgoers, on the other hand, are at risk.
The plan is to develop this autonomous vacuum cleaner over the next four years with financial support from the EU. The goal is that the system can find and capture a total of 90% of the plastic waste, but the cost of doing so is a total of 70% lower than when relying on human divers.
