Prototype Robot Swarm Could Clean Up Oil Spill in a Month [Oil]

This solar-powered fellow is a component of a robot group called Seaswarm. He and his buddies are cheap, autonomous, and communicate via GPS and Wi-Fi. And 5,000 of them could theoretically clean up the Gulf oil spill in a month.

The clever MIT folks currently only have a prototype of this robot swarm ready, but it surely sounds amazing:

Seaswarm, as they call it, basically works like a maxi pad. A patented hydrophobic nanofabric devours as much as 20 times its own weight in oil without collecting water. To capture the oil, the nanofabric’s draped over a conveyor belt that’s then dispatched on the skin of the ocean like ” a rolling carpet,” to quote Assaf Biderman, associate director of MIT’s Senseable City Lab. The robot’s entirely autonomous; it swims along, powered by a pair of solar panels. [...] Unlike traditional skimmers, that are moored to greater vessels and ought to return to shore frequently for tune-ups, Seaswarms can work 24/7 for weeks on end.

You can try more photos of these amazing-sounding robots over at Co.Design . I’ll just be here hoping that they’re really as great as they sound. [ MIT via Co.Design ]

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This post is tagged: month, oil, prototype, robot, swarm