Walk around any marina or enclosed harbour area these days, and it’s very likely that you’ll see a lot of floating debris which has blown in, or drifted in on tides from the sea or adjacent rivers. Nobody likes to see that, and for marina / harbour management it’s something that is bad for business, and for their credibility as an environmentally responsible organisation. Manually clearing up the mess is possible with drag nets, but its a labour intensive and soul-destroying task, a bit like picking up sweet wrappers in a windy street… never ending, laborious and frustrating!
The Jellyfishbot by IADYS
Proving that creativity and entrepreneurism is alive and thriving in France when it comes to sustainable innovation, this invention comes from an organisation called Interactive Autonomous DYnamic Systems (IADYS) based in Aubagne, near the major port of Marseille.
Nicolas Carlesi founded the company in 2016 having been a PhD student in robotics and artificial intelligence. He said, “after pursuing my hobbies of sailing and scuba diving along the Mediterranean coasts for many years, and being struck by the levels of pollution in the sea, I decided in my early thirties, that it was time to use my robotics training and create an automated solution for cleaning up enclosed water spaces.”
“The remotely controlled Jellyfishbot can squeeze into tight spaces, runs for up to 8 hours on its internal batteries, is more efficient, considerably faster, and less tiring than employing nets handled by port employees,” Carlesi confirms.