Menu
< BACK TO PROJECTS
image15

AquaCycler - Ocean Waste Collection Drone

Ocean Recycler

Ocean Builders Wiki Entry
Skills Needed:
Electronics major, Marine Biology, Mechanical/Structural Engineers, Mechatronics/Structural engineers, Software Developer
Problem / Challenge Description:

The objective of this project is to design an aquatic drone that can collect floating trash from the surface of rivers, lakes, seas and oceans. The drone must be able to perform the following activities:

  • Collect floating trash from the surface of the water.
  • Crush or shred the collected trash and store it.
  • Bring it back to land where the trash can be safely disposed.

A challenge that this project will face is how to classify trash automatically by the AquaCycler in a way that only those manmade objects that are recyclable are collected while other natural elements are left in place.

Solution:

Build an open-source floating drone to clean up the oceans, lakes, and ponds using AI to identify man-made garbage and put them into a collection net. Ideally we could specify a specific area for the drone as its service area and it will continually clean its area and return home for charging and to empty its trash for recycling.

Required features:
– Floating drone with an open area like a mouth at the front and a net in the center which collects garbage as the drone moves forward.
– Elevated pole with an AI camera on top that can search 360 degrees for junk to “eat”
– Can we set a programmable service area that it will continuously survey?
– Does it have space for at least ten 330ml bottles or cans?
– Can the drone move forward
– Can the drone move left and right
– Can it identify the type of trash it is seeing?
– Can it learn what type of trash to eat?

Optional features:
– The front opening mouth has one or two arms and cover the mouth so it can selectively let items into the mouth
– Can the drone move backward
– Can it turn in its place
– Can it return to a base station?
– Can it detect when it is low on battery and return to its base station for charging?
– Can it charge itself with solar power?

Stage: Stage 1 - Planning
Remuneration:

You will get credits redeemable for partial ownership of a SeaPod, education credits, get credited on papers and blog posts, honorable mentions and a Certificate of Contribution from Ocean Builders.

LIVE
LIVE