Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SeaClear2.0 (Scalable Full-cycle Marine Litter Remediation in the Mediterranean: Robotic and Participatory Solutions)
Periodo di rendicontazione: 2023-01-01 al 2024-06-30
Today’s oceans contain roughly 25 million tons of plastic waste, and approximately 94% of marine litter is located on the seafloor. Every year, 150,000-500,000 tonnes of macroplastics and 70,000-130,000 tonnes of microplastics enter European seas. This issue affects all seas around Europe, including e.g. the North Sea and the Black Sea; however, the majority of the debris ends up in the Mediterranean Sea. This semi-enclosed sea, surrounded by three continents and characterized by intense human activity, works as a trap for litter and has become one of the most affected seas by marine litter worldwide – so much, that aside from the five giant garbage masses in the world’s oceans (2 in the Atlantic, 2 in the Pacific and 1 in the Indian ocean), the Mediterranean is considered the sixth greatest accumulation of marine litter.
SeaClear2.0 will develop a holistic approach to address the full cycle of marine litter in a way that will help meet the Mission Ocean objectives to restore, protect and preserve the health of our oceans, seas and waters by 2030, in the context of the Mediterranean sea basin lighthouse. To this end, we aim to prevent and reduce marine litter pollution, particularly plastics and microplastics, in the Mediterranean via:
(i) Community activation, citizen empowerment, and participatory practices for identifying site-specific measures for marine litter prevention and reduction;
(ii) Scaling up and demonstrating the SeaClear2.0 system, an innovative solution with teams of autonomous, intelligent robots for effective monitoring and collection of marine seafloor and surface litter;
(iii) Providing solutions for the valorization of the collected marine litter through better sorting and recycling;
(iv) Adding novel dimensions in policy making by providing evidence for new legislation and the implementation of existing regulation to achieve Good Environmental Status, and
(v) Accelerating the uptake of our solution by demonstrating its scalability and replicability to the Mediterranean basin and beyond in 3 full-scale demonstrations, 3 pilot tests, and at least 5 associated-region projects funded via the financial support scheme for third parties.
The SeaClear2.0 system comprises a team of autonomous and heterogeneous robots engineered and trained to work collaboratively for in-situ mapping, detection, classification, and collection of marine litter from the seafloor and sea surface. Capable of operating at depths of up to 100 metres and lifting items weighing up to 250 kilograms, SeaClear2.0’s pioneering technological solutions represent a paradigm shift in ocean restoration.
SeaClear2.0 will develop a holistic approach to address the full cycle of marine litter in a way that will help meet the Mission Ocean objectives to restore, protect and preserve the health of our oceans, seas and waters by 2030, in the context of the Mediterranean sea basin lighthouse. To this end, we aim to prevent and reduce marine litter pollution, particularly plastics and microplastics, in the Mediterranean via:
(i) Community activation, citizen empowerment, and participatory practices for identifying site-specific measures for marine litter prevention and reduction;
(ii) Scaling up and demonstrating the SeaClear2.0 system, an innovative solution with teams of autonomous, intelligent robots for effective monitoring and collection of marine seafloor and surface litter;
(iii) Providing solutions for the valorization of the collected marine litter through better sorting and recycling;
(iv) Adding novel dimensions in policy making by providing evidence for new legislation and the implementation of existing regulation to achieve Good Environmental Status, and
(v) Accelerating the uptake of our solution by demonstrating its scalability and replicability to the Mediterranean basin and beyond in 3 full-scale demonstrations, 3 pilot tests, and at least 5 associated-region projects funded via the financial support scheme for third parties.
The SeaClear2.0 system comprises a team of autonomous and heterogeneous robots engineered and trained to work collaboratively for in-situ mapping, detection, classification, and collection of marine litter from the seafloor and sea surface. Capable of operating at depths of up to 100 metres and lifting items weighing up to 250 kilograms, SeaClear2.0’s pioneering technological solutions represent a paradigm shift in ocean restoration.
The main achievements of the current reporting period include:
* Novel designs of the SeaCAT2 USV, the SeaDragon shuttle tender, the smart grapple and the surface collection robots. The four robotic systems have been developed with specifications from the test sites and the respective interoperability in mind, significantly enhancing the SeaClear system’s litter collection capabilities in terms of size, weight, domain (seafloor/surface) and transport volume.
* A method for multi-robot search for the maxima of litter density, where the robots can sample the density at their current position. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the method compared to baselines from source seeking, and a ground-robot proof-of-concept validation in the lab is ongoing.
* A combined planning and control framework for the USV and the smart grapple for collection of litter from the seafloor. Simulation results indicate the effectiveness of the holistic approach for retrieving litter with unknown mass and drag properties.
* A refined pipeline for litter detection from camera images.
* Pose (position and attitude) estimation methods that accommodate for sensor errors and intermittent unavailability, as well as a platform for pose estimation and mapping tests.
* An octree-based framework for seafloor and litter mapping as well as surface litter mapping from drone images.
* Development of the method that will be implemented throughout the project for the analysis of the relevant policies and the development of policy recommendations. The developed method consists of three main parts: policy mapping, policy analysis and policy recommendations.
In addition, the call for associated regions has been launched with the results expected to be announced in July or August 2024.
* Novel designs of the SeaCAT2 USV, the SeaDragon shuttle tender, the smart grapple and the surface collection robots. The four robotic systems have been developed with specifications from the test sites and the respective interoperability in mind, significantly enhancing the SeaClear system’s litter collection capabilities in terms of size, weight, domain (seafloor/surface) and transport volume.
* A method for multi-robot search for the maxima of litter density, where the robots can sample the density at their current position. Simulation results show the effectiveness of the method compared to baselines from source seeking, and a ground-robot proof-of-concept validation in the lab is ongoing.
* A combined planning and control framework for the USV and the smart grapple for collection of litter from the seafloor. Simulation results indicate the effectiveness of the holistic approach for retrieving litter with unknown mass and drag properties.
* A refined pipeline for litter detection from camera images.
* Pose (position and attitude) estimation methods that accommodate for sensor errors and intermittent unavailability, as well as a platform for pose estimation and mapping tests.
* An octree-based framework for seafloor and litter mapping as well as surface litter mapping from drone images.
* Development of the method that will be implemented throughout the project for the analysis of the relevant policies and the development of policy recommendations. The developed method consists of three main parts: policy mapping, policy analysis and policy recommendations.
In addition, the call for associated regions has been launched with the results expected to be announced in July or August 2024.
Novel designs have been developed of the SeaCAT2 USV, the SeaDragon shuttle tender, the smart grapple and the surface collection robots. The four robotic systems have been developed with specifications from the test sites and the respective interoperability in mind, significantly enhancing the SeaClear system’s litter collection capabilities in terms of size, weight, domain (seafloor/surface) and transport volume.