2023-06-13 02:12:52
The Tecnalia robot for cleaning the seabed, which was launched a year ago and is being tested on the island of Sacca Fissola, in the Venetian Lagoon, has already collected half a ton of plastic.
As reported by the technology center in a statement, the initiative goes further and its objective is to identify, collect, classify and transform the collected marine debris into recycled products, as well as assess the impact of these systems on the ecosystem.
On the occasion of the European Environment Weekthe robot made its first live demonstration last Friday in the presence of the local authorities of Venice.
Throughout the next year, the underwater robot will continue to clean the seabed of Venice, while continuing to evolve and perfecting their technologyso that, once the project is finished in 2024, it can make the leap to the market.
83 million tons of plastic waste in the oceans
As Tecnalia has underlined, this development responds to a major current problem, since the world’s rivers and oceans are damaged by the amount of debris discarded by human beings. Thus, she has pointed out that it is estimated that there is currently a reserve of 83 million tons of plastic waste in the oceans.
It is necessary eliminate the stock of marine macro-plastics already existing before they fragment into micro and nano-plastics, which contaminate the food chain and marine life
For this reason, he has ensured that the current situation requires, first of all, prevent the entry of new plastics into the oceans, through “responsible” consumption and improving the waste management systems in developing countries. And secondly, you have indicated that it is necessary eliminate the stock of marine macro-plastics already existing before they fragment into micro and nano-plastics, which contaminate the food chain and marine life.
Recovering plastics at the bottom of the ocean is an arduous and slow task
Tecnalia has stated that the recovery of these plastic materials at the bottom of the ocean is an “arduous and slow” task and, in this context, a european consortium made up of 14 partners from 8 different countries work in the project Maelstromwhich poses precisely “an efficient and selective robotic solution” to clean the bottom of the seas.
For the collection of plastics and marine debris, the robot integrates two solutions: on the one hand, a 150 mm diameter suction duct for smaller sized debris and, on the other hand, a hydraulic clamp to grab larger objects. up to 130 kilograms such as tires, boxes, sections of sunken ships or fishing nets
Specifically, Tecnalia has developed this robotic seabed cleaning system that consists of a floating platform with an underwater cable robot.
For the collection of plastics and marine debris, the robot integrates two solutions: on the one hand, a 150 mm diameter suction duct for smaller sized debris and, on the other hand, a hydraulic clamp to grab larger objects. up to 130 kilograms such as tires, boxes, sections of sunken ships or fishing nets.
Works up to twenty meters deep without damaging aquatic ecosystems
The robot has been designed to work up to twenty meters deep without damaging aquatic ecosystems, and for this, it has integrated pressure and depth sensors. Also, it has vision cameras for displaying marine debris and a intelligent camera that allows the identification of marine debris by artificial intelligence and thus carry out its semi-automatic collection, helping the robot operator.
Mariola Rodríguez, responsible for the project at Tecnalia, has stated that the main advantages of this technological solution is that it operates from the surface of the water and that the collection heads are activated only when necessary, “achieving a high selectivity and minimizing the impact on the ecosystem“.
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