Several big projects are going on worldwide focused on cleaning up the ocean, but they’re all collecting plastic pollution from the surface. For example, The Ocean Cleanup designed a giant system that floats on the water and catches waste. But, as fantastic as the device is, around 90% of plastics that end up in the oceans sink to the seabed.
So, even though the vast floating patches of garbage that are as big as entire countries seem like a big deal, they’re just the tip of the iceberg. What likes beneath needs to be addressed too. Now, The Fraunhofer Center for Maritime Logistics and Services CML is working together with an international network of partners to do just that.
The European Union-funded project to collect litter from the ocean floor is called SeaClear. It will tackle coastal areas first, primarily locations with heavy pollution – such as regions with a river carrying garbage from the city into the ocean.
The project uses various robotic vehicles that are connected. The system consists of an autonomous or remote-controlled mothership supported by two underwater robots and a drone. The two underwater robots get their electricity from the mother ship they support via umbilical cables.
The drone and one of the underwater robots chart the litter. They distinguish pollution from marine flora and fauna via deep-learning algorithms and acoustic sensors. The second one uses the information, collects the waste detected using a custom-designed gripper and suction device, and then discards it in a collective bin located on the surface vessel.
Since all the robots are connected, when one changes position, the other robots know and adapt. No human intervention is necessary, aside from an initial command of one robot. The technique is called a multi-agent control method.
They’ve already tested the SeaClear system along the coast of Dubrovnik, Croatia, and the Port of Hamburg, Germany. The organization strategically chose those testing beds due to their contrasting site conditions. The port is an industrial zone, busy, and the waters are murky; the coast is a tourist hot-spot with calm and clear waters. Further testing was scheduled but had to be canceled due to the coronavirus. They will continue, but when has not yet been announced.
