The recent BP Gulf of Mexico oil spill disaster saw a number of new oil cleanup gadgets, gizmos and strategies thrust into the limelight. Here’s MIT’s latest contribution – the Seaswarm, driven by solar power.
A project by the MIT Senseable City Lab, Seaswarm isn’t one, but a fleet of solar powered craft that could make oil spill cleanups cheaper and more effective.
Traditional skimmers are usually huge ships, but the Seaswarm robot is only 5 metres long and just over 2 metres wide. The craft uses two square meters of solar panels for self-propulsion and employs a conveyor belt covered with a thin nanowire mesh to absorb oil. The fabric can absorb up to twenty times its own weight in oil while repelling water. By heating up the material, the oil can be removed the nanofabric can be reused.
What the SeaSwarm doesn’t have in size compared to current skimmers, it will make up for numbers and its independent nature. The MIT researchers say the units will use wireless communication and GPS technology to co-ordinate their movements and ensure even distribution over a spill site. A single vehicle could skim the oil from an area autonomously or other vehicles could be called in for more rapid cleaning.
The researchers estimate that a fleet of 5,000 Seaswarm robots would be able to clean a spill the size of the BP Gulf of Mexico oil disaster in as little month.
MIT’s Senseable City Lab team will unveil the first Seaswarm prototype at the Venice Biennale’s Italian Pavilion on Saturday, August 28 and plans to enter their design into the X-Prize’s $1 million oil-cleanup competition.
Source: Seaswarm Project Site
