Drones are adding functionality to our everyday lives, and automation is here to help humanity whether we’re ready for it or not. In a clever combination of the two, [Richard Hardiman] of RanMarine has developed small drone-boats that scoop up garbage from the ocean — he calls them ‘Waste Sharks.’
The two models — slim and fatboy — aim to collect up to 1,100 pounds of garbage apiece in the ‘mouths’ just below the water’s surface. The Waste Sharks are still restricted to remote control and are only autonomous when traveling between waypoints, but one can see how this technology could evolve into the “Wall-E of water.”
Before tackling the task of cleaning the world’s oceans — namely the great pacific garbage patch — [Hardiman] aims to first tidy up the ports, waterways and canals of our cities. So, Waste Shark is presently being tested until the end of the year cleaning up the Port of Rotterdam.
If you think cleaning the ocean is a faraway goal, then what do you think of autonomously circumnavigating the globe? Or perhaps a swarm of drone boats to do your bidding?
[via Popular Science]
Filed under: drone hacks
// from Hackaday http://ift.tt/2cPsbi7
site=blogger">IFTTT
EmoticonEmoticon