A remotely-operated minibot developed by Australian researchers can quickly clean up oil spills using a specialised filtering system.
Rapidly cleaning up large-scale oil spills presents an environmental and technological challenge. In future, this work could be undertaken by schools of ‘electronic dolphins’ that skim the surface of oil slicks, absorbing the pollution with high efficiency.
A team at RMIT University in Melbourne built the foot-long device with an onboard filtering system that is able to repel water while absorbing oil floating on the surface. The oil is drawn through the filter via a pump into an onboard collection chamber.
“Oil spills can take a huge environmental and economic toll. We wanted to create a system that can be deployed quickly, steered accurately and used in areas that are too risky for people to access,” said Dr Ataur Rahman, lead researcher from RMIT’s School of Engineering.
The inspiration for the filtering system came from sea urchins that are covered in...