At the 117 technologies surveyed by the study, a drone-shark and a robot ship: drones and robots, innovation to rid oceans of plastic.
The uses of drones and robots are more and more disparate and, between concerns about the elimination of the workforce in favor of automated arms, or regarding the use of warfare technologies "aseptic", in short, able to kill without feeling remorse, here, among these facts more "sinister", sometimes makes way for some good news. This is the case of the drones and robots already at work in the oceans and seas of the world to clean the waters from plastic.
How many technologies are at our disposal to save the oceans from plastic
Some scientists have tried to extrapolate the number of technologies currently available to man to stem the damage of plastic waste. The findings total 117. A number certainly encouraging, if we think that among them there could be the patent able to give a decisive contribution to the safeguard of the aquatic expanses. What is even more exciting, however, is the increasing trend. From 2016 to 2020, so in just 4 years, anti-plastic technologies have increased by 73%.
The investments that have led to the creation of such a large technology park come from scientific institutions, national funds and, since 2015 especially, private individuals and non-governmental organizations. Among the main funders is also the EU. A contribution that presumably will become more conspicuous in the years in which the Recovery Fund money will take the direction of ecological transition, the main expenditure chapter, for example, of the Italian plan.
Mechanical sharks and robotic ships, here are the anti-litter technologies
Here are some impressive devices whose mission is, among other things, to erode that island of plastic that is often mentioned in discussions on sustainability (this is the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, which is located precisely in the Pacific): floating bins that filter the water by trapping trash, called seabins; an underwater wall that doesn't let plastic through, trapping it; a solar-powered waste-catcher boat, capable of collecting plastic before it even makes its way to the sea; the WasteShark drone, which collects waste using an autopilot.
Among the avant-garde uses of flying technology, there are certainly Amazon's drones, capable of delivering a package in just half an hour. Not to mention the use of robots in the fields, which promises to create a generation of farmers 2.0.
Giuseppe Giordano