Oil spills, soda cans, and food wrappers constantly pollute our waters. So much so, that it makes me wonder if all those “No Dumping” signs have surreptitiously been changed to “Water: Your New Landfill.”
So how can we combat the growing problem of contaminated oceans, rivers and lakes? With robots, of course. Thanks to a new invention from Chinese industrial designer, Ye Yao, comes the WatCleaner, a device designed to automatically clean water.
The WatCleaner has detectors on the bottom that monitor water for pollution, everything from basic garbage to oil, and clean the water. Absorbent socks on the top of the WatCleaner absorb oil and cleanse it. Additionally, garbage is taken in and directed to a disintegrator- clean water is then sprayed through the top of the WatCleaner and returned to the water system.
And for those of you animal rights activists, don’t worry, the WatCleaner also detects fish in order to clean the water in their area.
Beyond just cleaning the water of contaminants, the WatCleaner is also set up to transmit water condition information to land based controllers and ask for help if it encounters conditions too polluted to handle alone.
The WatCleaner won an “Excellent Works” designation in the 2007 Japan Design Foundation International Design Competition.
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