There is a certain awe-inspiring doggedness to these aquatic Roomba-style waterway vacuum cleaners. The video on the top is from Dutch company called RanMarine, which has field-testing WasteSharks all over the world. The founder Richard Hardiman made a prototype in his garage after seeing a couple of fisherman trying to clean up an area around their boat with a pool net. His tinkering has morphed into a business and a calling. Rán, btw, is a Norse sea goddess: "Famously independent and impetuous, Rán catches sailors who fall overboard in her magical net (a gift from Loki, the god of mischief) in return for whatever gold they are carrying."
The Trash Robot in the second video will be patrolling the Chicago River this summer. It is the latest project from Urban Rivers, an intrepid grassroots organization focused on low-cost, innovative, crowdfunded solutions. Not only did Trash Robot beat its $5000 funding goal on Kickstarter (shout out to Makerbiz member Nick Wesley!), but the campaign offered a unique reward to backers: the chance to operate the bot remotely—a real world riff on Pac-Man. I can't wait to see this is action!
The Trash Robot in the second video will be patrolling the Chicago River this summer. It is the latest project from Urban Rivers, an intrepid grassroots organization focused on low-cost, innovative, crowdfunded solutions. Not only did Trash Robot beat its $5000 funding goal on Kickstarter (shout out to Makerbiz member Nick Wesley!), but the campaign offered a unique reward to backers: the chance to operate the bot remotely—a real world riff on Pac-Man. I can't wait to see this is action!
