In all the news about the devastation of the oil spill, announcements of innovations that have emerged out of this situation are nothing short of amazing.
A recent CNN post highlighted the development and deployment of autonomous, oil-scrubbing robots. What’s really fascinating about this invention is that these robots can find the oil on their own, without relying on human intervention.
When the robots find the oil, they contact all of their robot friends and invite them to the feast. The robots work together to figure out how best to clean up the mess. This latest innovation is a development by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and was presented by the school this week. The focus of the presentation was on the prototypical robot dubbed Seaswarm.
Priced at a mere $20,000 each, the robots are set to be unveiled to the public on Saturday and are slated to be available to actually get to work in about a year.According to CNN, the robots resemble a treadmill conveyor belt attacked to an ice cooler. The conveyor belt part of the system floats on the surface of the water.
As the system turns, the belt then propels the robot forward and lifts the oil off the water. It gets a little help from nanomaterial that is designed to attract oil and repel water. MIT (
News -
Alert) refers to the material on the robot’s conveyor belt as the paper towel for oil spills. It is said to be able to absorb up to 20 times its weight in oil. Once this oil is absorbed from the ocean’s surface, the robot either burns it off on the spot with a heater or it bags the oil to leave in on the surface of the water for pickup at a later time.
The oil could then be reused or recycled.The robots are designed to work together in a swarm, allowing thousands to be deployed on the same spill all at once. They coordinate together with GPS location data so they can plot out the most efficient way to address the clean-up project. Compared to current methods, the robots are considered cheap, quick and effective at cleaning up oil spills. To add to their efficiency, the robots operate on solar energy and require only 100 watts of power.
They have the ability to stay at sea for months and operate around the clock."Because it adheres to the surface of the water, it cannot capsize," officials said in the CNN report, "So it can withstand quite severe weather. Imagine this like a leaf that lands on the surface of the water and moves with the waves and the currents and cannot be flipped over."Traditional oil skimmers are attached to large boats. Their operations must be done by a human, which increases their cost. In addition, the skimmers can be hampered by severe weather. The robots are designed to allow clean up without such challenges.
Susan J. Campbell is a contributing editor for TMCnet and has also written for eastbiz.com. To read more of Susan’s articles, please visit her columnist page.Edited by
Marisa Torrieri
