Environmentalist clothing company 4Ocean along with French nautical solutions manufacturer Poralu Marine have developed BeBot, a remote-controlled robot designed to clear coastal pollution that has entered testing in Florida. According to 4Ocean, the beach cleaning robot works by driving around a beach and mechanically sifting through 10cm of sand to find plastic waste and other debris as small as one centimeter. Food wrappers, cigarette butts, and bottle caps are among the debris listed by 4Ocean which BeBot is programmed to search for. The robot is apparently capable of clearing thousands of feet of beach per hour.
Earth’s beaches are becoming increasingly cluttered due in large part to plastic waste. Large plastic items like bottles and other household goods are one problem, but when those objects break down over time, the microplastics they create can be even more harmful to the environment. Microplastics can be harmful to sea life which often mistake them for food, and scientists have long worried that the toxic plastics may travel up the food chain and begin impacting human health as well.
The robot produces no harmful emissions and has totally silent movement so as to not disturb beach lovers. Bebot is also powered by solar panels and an electric battery to be an environmentally friendly alternative to current beach cleaning technology such as tractors or labor-intensive manual sifting through the sand. Its track system allows the robot to traverse difficult to cover land terrain such as beaches but also lends itself the ability to level sand fields along with the ability to carry heavy loads such as sunbeds and rake algae.
Keeping Things Tidy
Over the coming weeks, BeBot will be tested in the south of Florida with an additional Bebot being sent to Oahu in Hawaii to support 4Ocean’s local partners and ongoing cleanup initiatives. Bebot is being marketed towards seafront properties, hotels, municipalities, natural reserves, sports fields, and golf courses. 4Ocean states on their website: “Walk any beach or coastline around the world and you’re bound to encounter some form of plastic pollution. Plastic waste isn’t just an eyesore that impacts tourism and local economies; it’s also an environmental hazard that can harm wildlife and degrade crucial coastal ecosystems”.
This is the first technological outing for Florida-based 4Ocean as the company is typically known for selling clothing made from repurposed sea waste. So far they have recovered 16,373,243 lbs of sea waste. The French company Poralu Marine, which specializes in marine solutions, was started in 1968 as a family business. It now boasts two production factories and one hundred and fifty employees. Other projects by Poralu Marine include other eco-friendly solutions to marinas, turnkeys for boat docks, and investments in environmental marine solutions.
