Virtual Booth

The shipping industry is very important in our daily lives and our nation’s economy. The shipping industry transports goods, food and equipment throughout the world to fulfill our needs. Although it has benefited us, we must be mindful of the adverse or negative effects of the shipping industry. The shipping industry has contributed to water pollution due to waste dumping, oil spill and the release of bilge water. If this issue continues on, it will harm aquatic creatures and the environment. Therefore, Hydrobotz is created to solve water pollution issues in the ocean in a more effective way and low in cost. Hydrobotz can be used to clean up rubbish or debris from water surface. It can be used by remotely controlling the Hydrobotz or set it in an autonomous mode. Ultrasonic sensors are used to locate the waste and removing it. Designing the Hydrobotz is challenging as we need to keep the design small and compact. On the other hand, the components are big and heavy. Therefore, the challenge would be making the Hydrobotz float on water with all the components. At first, the Hydrobotz was having difficulties keeping afloat due to its weight. So, we have to modify by attaching additional PVC pipes to ensure the Hydrobotz floats well. We also did some modifications to the gear to ensure the paddles can maneuver the Hydrobotz. Fiberglass was also applied to make the bottom waterproof. Once we had done designing, we started the building phase. We used wood and PVC pipes to assemble the Hydrobotz. As Hydrobotz is autonomous and relies on sensors, simple programming needs to be coded into the Hydrobotz.Waste can be removed much faster and safer compared to the conventional way as it uses machine rather than manpower. It would not affect the ecosystem or harm aquatic creatures therefore it is suitable for the environment. The limitation would be that Hydrobotz has a small capacity therefore a larger tank or container is need to store the waste.