The Waste Shark is about the size of a passenger car and can vacuum up 1,100 pounds of floating trash. Because it can work 24/7, it’s incredibly efficient.
Credit: Richard Hardiman
Thanks to the intelligent use of technology, the world’s oceans are already getting a little bit cleaner. This is great news, considering that at present, the world’s oceans are ridden with pollution which kills approximately 1 million seabirds, 300,000 dolphins and porpoises, and 100,000 sea mammals every year.
The Waste Shark is a small aquatic drone that is capable of vacuuming up 1,100 pounds of floating trash. Designed by Richard Hardiman of RanMarine, it’s basically like a Roomba for the ocean. Popular Science reports that the drone has officially embarked upon its first mission: To pick up trash in the waters around Rotterdam before it makes it way out to sea.
The inventor gifted four Waste Shark prototypes to the Port of Rotterdam Authority in the Netherlands. For the next year, the drones will patrol the waters and collect waste to help improve the state of the environment. As Conserve-Energy-Future shares, more innovations with similar application need to be utilized – and soon, because of the amount of trash which is circulating in the waters and affecting wildlife. In the Pacific Ocean, for example, there is an island of trash twice the size of Texas which contains items incapable of breaking down for thousands of years.
Hopefully, the growth of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch will decrease as Waste Sharks are put to work in bodies of water around the world. Each drone is approximately the size of a passenger car and picks up trash in a 14-inch “mouth” that extends below the water’s surface. Being autonomous, they’re able to patrol 24 hours a day, seven days a week without oversight.
It is Hardiman’s hope that the Waste Sharks eventually help make ocean trash a thing of the past (what a concept!). He explained in a statement:
“It may sound like a strange thing to say for an entrepreneur, but my mission will only truly be accomplished when I’m ‘out of business.’”
That’s a future we can all get excited about. Watch the Waste Shark in motion below!
What are your thoughts? Please comment below and share this news!
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Think it’s great, but can’t help but wonder if (and mainly how) it can detect lifeforms from plain materials.
trees on top of rivers and ocean is a good idea too. and the elite is trapping freedom nature fighting closing countries from the entire world and at the same time applying different things in different parts of the globe. remember that countries usually apply good practices in their own if it occurs good in other country.
for the internet, use closer systems, use satellite dishes and radio antennas and even old tv antennas and modulate and encrypt the packets, use various antennas for larger band. the trick to hold against those pieces of shit is to not use ISP’s at all. it is another profiting company only for money.
they are listening, guessing, reading and predicting to go in front of you…
remember that ww3 is over, i guess, and so they are continuing trying to control everyone with the same technology made for the fake ww3. they just built security and protection and goods for the elite while the same thing is a barrier against scientists, hackers, police, army… that’s why they are hiding behind governemnts to have the whole protection has a improved whole protection for them.
Meh. sorry. Looks more like a feel-good PR effort to me. how much rubbish will one of those pick up, especially when sent out to sea to clean the oceanic gyres ? what will they do the relatively tiny bits they do pick up ? how are they powered (solar? didn’t see any panels)? Can they differentiate between plastic etc rubbish and fish, birds and other lifeforms ? If they’re sent on long-term missions (? above Qs) can they self-clean seaweed & algae from their intakes ? Are they self-righting at sea (storms etc) & with rubbish on board ? Auto/navigation at sea with strong currents, winds, etc ? Or maybe a mothership is planned ? (maybe convert those Japanese whalers ?!? and that mega-trawler that visited un in .au recently-ish – gonna need big storage for those gyres 🙂 ) ((((And when we get all that overwhelming volume of trash back, how to process ? what to do with it all – more landfill ? Or, !!!:) send to Sweden ?! (nojoke).
Wheres the part of the video where it shows what it collects including if there are live creatures in it? Seems impossible to sort natural from unnatural in these types of devices.