The Plastics Piranha will arrive in Richmond on Wednesday to begin collecting plastic from waterways and will also collect data from marine bodies like dissolved oxygen, oxygen reduction potential, temperature, pH levels and more.
Developed by the startup Clean Earth Rovers, the autonomous rover skims waterways and can collect more than 100 pounds of waste per trip. It is 100-percent electric and uses obstacle avoidance software to stay clear of boaters and marine life.
Clean Earth Rovers was incubated at the University of Cincinnati's 1819 Innovation Hub and received funding through their Venture Lab program. The startup is launching its first fully autonomous rover to collect plastic debris from Richmond this summer, with the aim of cleaning up parts of California's coast.
The startup was initially focused on developing autonomous technology to clean up the Great Pacific Garbage Patch, a zone of garbage between California and Hawaii that is twice the size of Texas, according to the nonprofit The Ocean Cleanup.
