The first unmanned surface cleaning vessel has been put to work in Haikou. The intelligent trash guzzling bot was first seen on the waters of the East and West lakes in Haikou People’s Park on January 4.
The unmanned cleaning bot is 2.5 meters long and 1.5 meters wide. In the middle of the hull is an iron hook for holding garbage. The ship has a carrying capacity of 50 kilograms and can salvage various types of floating garbage such as leaves, water plants, garbage bags and plastic bottles.
It can work for around 5 hours a day under human operation and around 8 hours in automatic mode.
In operating waters, the cleaning bot can autonomously complete a pre-set route without manual intervention. It can detect and avoid static obstacles and return automatically after the work is complete.
In the past, cleaning staff needed to take a rowing boat on the lake to collect trash which was both time-consuming and labor-intensive.
According to reports, the ship can automatically clean up more than 90% of the water surface with the use of very little manpower. The work efficiency is said to be about 20 times that of manual methods.
Li Jiahao a cleaner responsible for East and West lakes told reports that “since the introduction of the unmanned cleaning boat, the workload of our sanitation works has been greatly reduced.”
“The investment in the unmanned cleaning boat provides a lower cost, safer and more efficient solution for surface garbage cleaning,” said Longma Sanitation Manager Wu Zirui.
The next step is to apply the technology to the Jinniu lake and Shapo Reservoirs, eventually covering all waters within the Longhua district of Haikou.
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