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Tag: WasteShark

WasteShark, the plastic-eating drone

WasteShark, the plastic-eating drone

Richard Hardiman, the accidental environmentalist, speaks honestly about his entrepreneurial journey, discovering a passion for drones and plastic recycling he never dreamed of, and how the creative, entrepreneurial side lies in each of us- waiting to be unleashed.

RanMarine Technology B.V. have just launched WasteShark, their first product. These fully autonomous drones swim through the water, collecting waste and other non-biodegradables, whilst gathering data about the environment.

Q: What’s unique or innovative about RanMarine Technology?

Waste removal and plastic recycling is not a ‘sexy’ subject but when you start using drones in water to start reducing the negative effects of pollution, that generally sparks a conversation, not only about just how bad pollution in our oceans has gotten, but how cool the future of technology really is.

Our products are unique but I think our innovation and understanding of what the future needs are our most differentiating aspects.

Q: What inspired you to start?

A few years ago, I was watching two men in a boat cleaning out an area of water with a pool net; a small and relatively ineffective pool net and the inefficiency in that process just drove me mad, especially given the amount of trash they were trying to collect with that net.

I started playing around with the idea of automated scoops to pick this up and filter the plastic out, eventually, I narrowed it down to USV’s (Unmanned Surface Vehicles/Vessels) and how we could use drone technology to automate this plastic collection.

As with any idea that speaks to current problems, everyone I spoke to about this solution got very excited, but an idea is one thing, committing to it and creating something that has never been done before is quite another.

“Eventually, I built a prototype in my garage; it was made of plumbers piping Arduino boards and some bilge pumps to act as motors – I put it all together with some crudely written code and tested the prototype in my pool; despite my skills, it worked!”

From there I joined an Accelerator (portxl.org) in Rotterdam and found new partners and investment and we have been building ever since.

Q: What’s your biggest achievement to date?

It may sound odd but the fact that we created a business from scratch, which was based on the idea of “what if”, and turned that into something that has a demand globally…that to me is pretty big. It sounds like a linear process, you have an idea, build a prototype, find investment and create a product, but the journey is far harder and path far more winding than that – we created something that never existed before and that always pleases me.

Q: What’s your plans for the next 6 months or year?

Our next two months is totally focussed on market readiness; we have a number of drones out in the field right now (The Netherlands, USA, Africa and India) been tested by launching customers and partners with a view to refining the requirements, usability and tweaking any parts of the software and hardware for customer-readiness. Along with this, we are into scale-up mode on our production lines and logistics into our launching markets; 2018 is the year we started sending our first product The WasteShark around the globe, so internally we are focused on making these steps as simple as possible. Parallel to this, we are working on our next two products, so its all systems go.

Q: What do you wish you’d known at the beginning? Has inspiration come from unexpected places?

I knew nothing about drones, maritime or even the huge problem that is plastic waste before I saw those two men in a boat with their net; My inspiration came from trying to solve a problem of inefficacy in a process, as many new innovations do – if you had asked me three or four years ago did I think I would be doing what I am doing now I would have laughed…but that’s because inspiration and innovation do come from the most unlikely of places and send you on a path that you can’t always predict, but that’s half the fun.

If we had to start over again there would, of course, be things I would change, decisions, partnerships or development paths that you would not have taken, but these are all learning processes, you try your best not to make the same mistake twice but quite often you do anyway. Part of being an entrepreneur is having the tenacity to live with your mistakes, choices and the constant threat of failure and learning to adapt to that and continue going forward.

“…If you had asked me three or four years ago did I think I would be doing what I am doing now I would have laughed…”

Is there a particular moment where you had to rethink things?

There have been many moments! Oddly though never one of giving up – with anything new and untested you invariably come up against problems that you thought would be simple to solve and become almost show-stoppers to the project, but I am big on solutions, you can find problems everywhere in life…I prefer that if I am shown a problem I am also given one or two possibilities on how we intend to solve the problem; too often we use a problem to mean that we no longer have to work or think, that is just lazy.

It is going well now but that doesn’t mean that problems do not arise, we are a small and growing team and we are working well together, but with a problem the size of the one we are trying to help solve, roadblocks and problems occur every day; its just how you manage your way around or through them.

Read the full article by Trvst article

Here are 5 most successful robotics startups from the Netherlands in 2018

Robotics technology is no more a concept now; it has become a part of our lives today and its now making a debut in all kinds of sectors. Whether it be transportation, construction, home or office, modern robotics is becoming essential in all the aspects of our lives.

When it comes to the Netherlands, there are many innovative startups which are involved in the process of robotic development and designing. However, there are only a few of them which are thriving and achieving success for the solutions they are creating.

RanMarine Technology

This Rotterdam-based startup, RanMarine Technology has created a unique way to clean the waters. They have developed an aqua-marine drone to clear litter from the waters. This drone acts like a smart vacuum cleaner and sweeps up the dust and garbage in the water, without harming the aquatic life. Capable of swimming for up to 16 hours, the WasteShark scans its immediate environment as it works, collecting data to send back to its central command. It can test the waters for pH levels, conductivity, ammonium, chloride, nitrate, salinity, and many other metrics.

Read the full article by Silicon Canals to learn more about the 5 most successful robotics startups.

Dubai is now home to a trash-eating ‘shark’ drone

The WasteShark by RanMarine not only collects floating waste but also filters waters and collects water quality data. So far ut has operated in Dubai, South Africa and The Netherlands.

A shark prowling the coastline is normally a worrying sight, but this waterborne drone terrorizes floating trash instead of people.

Developed by Dutch company RanMarine, the WasteShark takes nature as its inspiration with its whale shark-like mouth. But instead of vacuuming up krill, this device collects waste. Conceived in 2016, the marine drone will begin operations in Dubai Marina in November after a year of trials with local partner Ecocoast.

According to RanMarine, the WasteShark is available in both autonomous and remote-controlled models. Measuring just over five feet by three-and-a-half feet (1.5 meters by 1.1 meter), it can carry up to 352 lbs of trash (159.6 kg) and has an operational battery life of 16 hours.

As of 2016 there were approximately 150 million metric tons of plastic in the world’s oceans, per a report by the World Economic Forum. One widely cited paper from December 2014 estimated that over a quarter of a million tons of ocean plastic pollution was afloat.

Read the full article by Dubai Now article

 

Fleets Of Wasteshark ‘Aquadrones’ Could Be Cleaning Ocean Waste In The Future

A swarm of autonomous robots that can swim across bodies of water to collect garbage might be the key to saving the oceans.  A few years ago, RanMarine Technology, a company from the Netherlands, has introduced WasteShark, an aquadrone that works like a smart vacuum cleaner (essentially, a Roomba for the seas) to gather wastes that end up in waterways before they accumulate into a great big patch in the middle of the Pacific Ocean.

Wall-E On Water

Every year, about 1.4 billion pounds of trash end up in the ocean. Plastics, styrofoam, and other nonbiodegradable materials get dumped into the waters, eaten by fishes and birds or collect into what has become the Great Pacific Garbage Patch — a gyre of debris between California and Hawaii bigger than Alaska.

Trash in seas and oceans have become a huge problem, but the WasteShark might be able to help.

RanMarine said that its aquadrones are inspired by whale sharks, “nature’s most efficient harvesters of marine biomass.” The company claims that the vessels can collect up to 200 liters of waste before it needs to be emptied and swim across the water for 16 hours.

The WasteShark are autonomous as it can intelligently wade through water and collect trash using sensors. It is equipped with a GPS to track its movements.

Read the full article by Tech Times article

Pilot with the WasteShark in Dordrecht a success

Original article in Dutch. Translation below:  The pilot with the so called WasteShark was a success according to the Dordrecht municipality. During the trials, the device navigated through the Spuihaven in the Dordrecht city centre to clean plastic waste.

The WasteShark collected each time approximately three bags of garbage. This is just as much as what was being fished out before the trial by two men in a boat. The WasteShark makes the boat unnecessary and is also operated by one man.

For the pilot the municipality of Dordrecht cooperated with the developer RanMarine Technology, contractor Krinkels, Cirkellab and the water authority Hollandse Delta. Some experience was gained with the device previously in the Rotterdam port area.

The WasteShark is operated from the waterfront. By means of a camera on the drone, the operator can see what the WasteShark encounters. In addition to waste, they also involved reeds, lily leaves and bridges. To manage these obstacles, the drone was adjusted during the trial period.

The local residents of the Spuihaven were happy with the WasteShark. RanMarine and Krinkels will continue to develop the drone together and deploy it elsewhere in the country. The collected waste is reused. Cirkellabwants to make it a work of art.

Read the full article by Rijnmond article

Sir Robert Syms Opposes Plastic Pollution

Today our Poole MP, Sir Robert Syms, performed the first UK launch of a drone called WasteShark that collects floating plastic and other rubbish so that it can be removed and recycled. Robert used the occasion to give an interview for BBC Radio Solent in which he described the importance of keeping out local waters free of plastic pollution, which can endanger wildlife and spoil Poole Harbour unless we remain vigilant.

The WasteShark drone can either be steered by a handheld joystick or run in autonomous mode, either around a set course or within a set perimeter. It runs silently and safely on rechargeable batteries and includes collision avoidance software. It can hold up to a third of a ton of rubbish before it needs to be emptied and it poses no threat to marine life. At the same time, the drone can serve as a platform for a variety of sensors to measure water quality, temperature and so on.

On behalf of RanMarine Technology, Oliver Cunningham (pictured above) introduced Robert to the WasteShark drone and explained its featured and benefits on BBC Radio Solent before Robert launched the drone into Poole Harbour (picture above). The company vision is that the drones can work steadily in coastal waters worldwide, doing their bit to solve the plastic pollution problem, piece by piece.

The vision is that WasteShark drones can work steadily in urban and coastal waters worldwide, doing their bit to solve the plastic pollution problem, and supporting evidence-based management of Smart Cities.

Read the full article by Poole Conservatives article

Gobbling up your marina problem

ROTTERDAM RanMarine Technology, a 4-year-old Dutch company, has a solution for marina operators for whom floating garbage is an unending pain-in-the-neck. The company has developed the WasteShark, an aquadrone that removes trash and nasty flora from the water.

The WasteShark works round-the-clock, gobbling up garbage floating around marinas and shipyard waters. It also records the water’s temperature, depth and oxygen content with a view to improving water management. Units are now running in pilot projects in the city of Rotterdam and the port of nearby Dordrecht. Commercial projects start soon in South Africa and India.

RanMarine Technology says its drones operate above all in locations where trash is known to collect “waste choke-holds” created by tides and weather. It does not recommend using them in shipping lanes or other high traffic areas.

The cost of sea litter in the European Union has been estimated at up to €630 million a year – mostly plastics.

Richard Hardiman, head of the WasteShark project calls himself “an accidental environmentalist.” He says one day he watched 2 men struggling to scoop litter from a harbor. It led him to develop an aqua drone that collects garbage in a basket,  powered by rechargeable batteries and relatively silent.

Garbage-collecting aqua drones and jellyfish filters for cleaner oceans

A Roomba-like ocean trash collector modelled on a whale shark and a microplastic filter made from jellyfish slime could prevent litter from entering our oceans and help tackle a growing problem that poses threats to wildlife, deters tourists and impacts on coastal economies.

The cost of sea litter in the EU has been estimated at up to €630 million per year. It is mostly composed of plastics, which take hundreds of years to break down in nature, and has the potential to affect human health through the food chain because plastic waste is eaten by the fish that we consume.

‘I’m an accidental environmentalist,’ said Richard Hardiman, who runs a project called WASTESHARK. He says that while walking at his local harbour one day he stopped to watch two men struggle to scoop litter out of the sea using a pool net. Their inefficiency bothered Hardiman, and he set about trying to solve the problem. It was only when he delved deeper into the issue that he realised how damaging marine litter, and plastic in particular, can be, he says.

‘I started exploring where this trash goes – ocean gyres (circular currents), junk gyres, and they’re just full of plastic. I’m very glad that we’re now doing something to lessen the effects,’ he said.

Hardiman developed an unmanned robot, an aqua drone that cruises around urban waters such as harbours, marinas and canals, eating up marine litter like a Roomba of the sea. The waste is collected in a basket which the WasteShark then brings back to shore to be emptied, sorted and recycled.

The design of the autonomous drone is modelled on a whale shark, the ocean’s largest known fish. These giant filter feeders swim around with their mouths open and lazily eat whatever crosses their path.

Read the full article by Horizon article

Rotterdam rising – maritime innovators

Rotterdam also acts as a magnet for maritime innovators from around the world. Richard Hardiman launched his RanMarine technology company three years ago in his native South Africa, but moved to Rotterdam when he gained a place at PortXL, the world’s first maritime startup accelerator.

Hardiman has been developing a kind of floating drone called WasteShark, which travels around collecting floating waste in harbours and waterways. (“It sounds easy, but technically it’s not,” he points out.) Over the last few months, WasteSharks have been tested all over the world, from Mumbai to Baltimore and points in between, and from this month they will be available for sale.

“Rotterdam’s ecosystem is very impressive,” says Hardiman. “I’d been here a few times previously and knew it was a lovely city, but I wasn’t aware of the tech ecosystem they’ve developed here. They have worked really hard at it. Over the last two or three years, the Port of Rotterdam, local government, the mayor’s office and various companies within Rotterdam have transformed what was largely a port city into a tech hub. It really has become the innovative hub of the Netherlands.”

For the full magazine article by Business Life Promotion: click here

The accidental environmentalist – Richard Hardiman (TEDx event CapeTown)

Meet Richard Hardiman, the CEO of RanMarine Technology BV, an environmental technology company specifically focused on using drones in ports, harbours, marinas and inland water environments.

Meet Richard Hardiman, the CEO of RanMarine Technology BV, an environmental technology company specifically focused on using drones in ports, harbours, marinas and inland water environments.

RanMarine Technology’s fully autonomous drones swim through the water, collecting waste and other non-biodegradables, whilst gathering data about the environment.

We asked Hardiman what motivated him to agree to stand on stage at our next TEDxCapeTownSalon event, to which he responded: “I wanted to share our team’s journey and explain how we intend to change and help heal the Oceans through technology.” “I am inspired by people who do bigger things and play a “bigger game” in life”, and that feeds into what he hopes to achieve with this experience. “I want to…inspire others to think a little differently and perhaps also take that leap of faith”. Hardiman, a radio veteran, he not only hosted a show on KFM for many years but also co-founded 2oceansvibe Radio, confesses to feeling a bit nervous and a little stressed about his TEDx talk but adds that he’s “…ultimately looking forward to it”.

This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community

The original TEDx video can be found TEDx