Clearbot is an AI-enabled, autonomous swarm of robots that detects and collects waste from water. The automated robot has the capability to detect marine plastics within two meters in rough water. Clearbot works on solar energy, and it can collect up to 250 kg of plastic in one go.

The World Economic Forum has predicted that there will be more plastic than fish in the oceans by 2025. Also, it is estimated that around 11 million tons of plastic are discarded in the seas. Plastic pollutes the water bodies and harms the natural water habitat.

A few robots can clean plastic waste from the water, but they are highly expensive and enormous. Current technologies for recovery, such as paddle boats or coastal excavators, are slow, out of date, and cannot gather waste on a scale. Larger efficient waste skimmers are using fossil fuels that are unsustainable for the environment. Some of the other trash cleaning robots include Jellyfishbot, Fred, WasteShark, and Crabster CR200.

Clearbot’s founder Sidhant Gupta came up with the idea of creating a compact robot with artificial intelligence that automatically detects and collects plastic from the water. The journey of Clearbot was initiated in August 2019.

In August 2019, the Clearbot’s Team built Framebot. Framebot was an initial model which was developed and produced to test the technology created by the Clearbot Team. In May 2020, after several modifications, Sawtooth was designed and built to operate in the worst climatic conditions. From here, Clearbot’s design and manufacturing were started. In November 2020, Wavester was introduced, and finally, Clearbot was launched.

Clearbot is a highly advanced technology that is 15 times cheaper and twice as efficient in cleaning marine waste compared to the conventional ways. Each fiberglass robot has cameras, sensors, and an advanced data collection system. It can work on autopilot, GPS, onboard sensors, or remote control for up to four hours. Meanwhile, the AI model of this MarineBot classifies every waste collected. Users may examine what was gathered and analyze what percentage of the waste is recycled or transported.

This AI-powered robot will create a significant impact on eradicating ocean trash. Clearbot could be used by everyone due to its affordability and compactness. This way, Clearbot can be employed to discard plastic waste from canals, lakes, or other small water bodies. If we start eliminating trash from small water bodies, it could be very effective in managing waste.

On the occasion of World Oceans Day, Razer, the world’s leading gaming lifestyle brand, announced a partnership with ClearBot. The collaboration complements Razer’s Green Investment, which aims to support environmental and sustainable start-ups by providing them with proper tools and capacities to help them scale up, in line with Razer’s ten-year GoGreenWithRazer sustainable development plan.

Patricia Liu, the Staff Chief at Razer, states that

“ClearBot’s unique AI and advanced machine learning technology will enable and empower governments and organizations around the world to broaden their sustainability efforts. We urge other innovative start-ups to reach out to Razer for collaboration opportunities as we strive to make the world a safer place for future generations.”

Successful developments and upgrades in Clearbot will assist cleaning companies in removing all the plastic waste from the water bodies. The Razer-Clearbot collaboration will help the Clearbot start-up team to raise funds in the future.

In Mui-Wo Hong Kong, Clearbot is planning its first cleanup initiative! The Clearbot Team will expand their following projects in Indonesia and India if they accomplish specific funding goals.

Currently, Clearbot aims to remove about 100 tons of waste from water bodies in the year 2021-2022. The best part about the Clearbot is that it doesn’t emit any harmful substances, far better than other technologies.