SeaHerd - Space Apps Challenge

SeaHerd| Trash Cleanup

Naples

Project Details

Awards & Nominations

SeaHerd has received the following awards and nominations. Way to go!

Global Finalist

The Challenge | Trash Cleanup

Oceanic garbage patches are collections of marine debris that come together due to ocean currents; they have devastating effects on ocean ecosystems. Your challenge is to design a mission to help clean up garbage from the ocean!

JellyBot

Jellybot isn’t just a challenge for us, it’s a mission. We strongly believe that we can give our contribution to help us and the planet, so we designed our solution thinking at the natural environment of the ocean and we came out with JellyBot.

Introduction

Every year, around 10 million metric tons of plastics enter the ocean on top of the estimated 150 million metric tons already in our marine environments. That’s like dumping a garbage truck full of plastic into the ocean every minute of every day for an entire year.

The Great Pacific Garbage Patch is a new actual continent as big as 3 times the area of France.

Now, if you think that the issue is the single bottle or a single piece of plastic that comes to the ocean...you’re wrong.

From the tiniest plankton to the largest whales, plastics affect nearly 700 species in the ocean. Trash has reached the stomachs of some of the deepest fish in the ocean. Researchers said 70% of deepwater fish had eaten particles of plastic, known as microplastics. And it's not just fish or marine life that's affected, it's us: every human being has traces of plastic constituents in his blood. Just think that every year we eat about 250 grams of plastic per year, the equivalent of 20 bottles of plastic.

What is micro plastic?

Plastic is lightweight, durable, persistent, and has low production prices and has become a ubiquitous material used for many applications . The main plastic types are polyethylene (PE), polypropylene (PP), polystyrene (PS), poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET), poly(vinyl chloride) (PVC), and polyurethane (PU).

Due to its high durability, plastic persists for a long time and tends to accumulate in the world’s oceans. Most plastic materials are buoyant and can be distributed through currents, resulting in ubiquitous plastic pollution.

Data from NASA The physical property that is measured is the ability of matter to absorb, transmit, or reflect infrared radiation. Infrared energy produces vibrations within the molecular bonds.

microplastic concentration chart Exposure to sunlight can result in photo-degradation of plastics; ultraviolet (UV) radiation in sunlight causes oxidation of the polymer matrix, leading to bond cleavage. Such degradation may result in additives designed to enhance durability and corrosion resistance, leaching out of the plastics . Debris on garbage patches , however, have high oxygen availability and direct exposure to sunlight so will degrade rapidly. With a loss of structural integrity, these plastics are increasingly susceptible to fragmentation resulting from abrasion, wave-action and turbulence. This process is ongoing, with fragments becoming smaller over time until they become microplastic in size.

Our solution

Jellybot is not only about the product, but the entire technological project behind it. The bot itself is built with cutting-edge technology and is paired with an user-friendly mobile application.

Jellybot

Our mission is to join the micro plastics ocean cleanup initiative. To do that we incorporated three main ideas in the design of our new technology. This cutting-edge technology is able to reduce the presence of plastic particles in the ocean in an energetically self-sustainable, autonomous and eco-friendly way.

Blueprint of JellyBot

Energy self-sustainability

On the base of energy self-sustainability, we conceived a system that uses mechanical and electrical elements to transform a mechanical force into an electric one. Our solution for this type of electro-mechanical problem has two processes.

The first act consists in the installation of a ballast capable of carrying out a depth excursion, which can be described by the following three phases:

A. force explanation chart

A. At first, the physical body is going to be in an initial position of 0 m (the surface of the water), with the ballast full of air.

B. force explanation chart

B. Through a progressive filling of water in the ballast, the physical body will start going deeper.

C. force explanation chart

C. When the physical body will reach the depth that we need, the ballast will push out the water producing the thrust of Archimedes.

Legend force explanation chart

The second act consists in the installation of a propeller that can convert kinetic energy of water into a force that causes the rotation of an alternator’s shaft, to generate an electrical energy necessary to power and charge a special battery.

Central Unit

The Jellybot has a central unit with the main task of correcting and changing its route. It is made possible thanks to NASA’s data and the latest machine learning technologies. The central unit uses the comparison of this data with the Jellybot’s live-positioning system to control the four engines. The bot can then use its engines and nearby currents to position itself where most of the microplastics are.

Microplastic filter

To accomplish our goal of removing microplastics from the water, we plan to use a mechanical filtration system to catch microparticles. The smallest particles detected in the oceans are 1.6 microns in diameter, and because of that, we designed a filter made of carbon blocks. This type of filter can typically remove particles between 0.5 and 10 microns.

Using the Archimedes force we plan one of the easiest filtration processes that, on top of everything else, doesn’t cost or involve any kind of energy and waste. The water is pushed through the porous structure and filtered. Filtration occurs through the mechanical separation of sediments and the adsorption of chemical contaminants by the activated carbon.

Environmental sustainability

The overall theme of our project is sustainable development, which is why we chose the most eco-friendly materials for the entire product.

The main focus is on the filter since it is the only part that will need to be replaced when full. The carbon filter can be made out of coal, coconut shell or wood; all-natural materials that don't increase pollution. The Jellybot itself can be designed using only recycled materials.

SeaHerd App

JellyBot App Screen

The SeaHerd mobile application is a fundamental part of the Jellybot project. This app allows the user to empathize with the ocean pollution issue and provokes curiosity in the problem through digital nudges and best practices.

SeaHerd users can follow the progress of the expedition and adopt a Jellybot. Through the adoption, users can track the stats and location of their Jellybot. Users will be able to see their Jellybot's operating time and the number of microplastics recovered which is represented by common, everyday plastic items like bags and water bottles.

The mobile application also serves as a crowdfunding campaign for the project. Along with the Jellybot adoption system, there is also a rewards campaign that allows users to unlock and buy project-related gadgets. The more plastic the adopted Jellybot collects, the more gadgets will be available to users.

Ocean pollution is a global threat that we, as humanity, all share on our backs. The goal of the SeaHerd App is to make users feel like an integral part of the ocean cleanup mission.

The code of the prototype is OPEN SOURCE and it's possible to see it at the GitHub link provided here:

GitHub SeaHerd App