Technology aims to make life as comfortable as possible for the user. And, thanks to its use, it is also possible to improve the situation in which our planet finds itself. This is precisely the objective of Clearbot Neo, an aquatic drone -developed by the Hong Kong startup Open Ocean Engineering- capable of collecting a daily tune of plastic. The device also works completely autonomously, without the need for a user to be at the controls, thanks to the use of artificial intelligence developed thanks to Microsoft.
The three-meter-long drone, powered by an electric motor, began to be designed in 2019. It is capable of cleaning rivers, lakes and seas thanks to a conveyor belt that carries the waste it collects to a container located at its stern.
It also has a custom-designed boom to deal with localized oil and fuel spills, allowing it to capture up to 15 liters of polluting liquids per day.
Clearbot also collected large amounts of data using a rear camera detection system. The first examined the water area so that the bot can identify garbage and avoid marine life, other boats and any existing danger, which makes it a "safe and versatile device for work in rivers and ports", according to what they point out. from Microsoft.
The second camera is intended to photograph this waste captured by the carrier and transmits its image and GPS location to the corporate data collection system, which is stored on Microsoft's Azure platform. These data are combined with different variables, such as information on seas and marine currents, so that biologists and marine authorities can correctly identify the sources of the garbage. Similarly, water quality data is also recorded in the cloud.
At the moment, the drone has only been tested in Hong Kong. However, the startup behind its manufacture will hope that, sooner rather than later, the device will catch the attention of governments, companies and non-governmental organizations around the world.
