PolyU engineers invented Galatea the robot after Sai Kung club sought help to solve marine trash problem
Hong Kong’s Clearwater Bay Golf & Country Club faced an uphill battle for years, as it tried to clean up the marine debris that washed ashore at its waterfront location in Sai Kung.
Workers had a never-ending task of gathering seaweed, large baskets and plastic. But the hardest to retrieve was styrofoam junk, because the material could disintegrate into tiny bits.
Now, a robot cleaner named Galatea, is proving to be a big help.
The robot, developed by Polytechnic University (PolyU) engineers, targets minuscule plastic waste.
Club chairman Jack Wong Wai-kwong said: “It has helped us save about two workers for debris clean-up. It was extremely difficult to collect small items such as styrofoam, and the robot was invented to solve the problem.”
The club turned to Chan Luen-chow, a research professor at PolyU, at the department of industrial and systems engineering, for help.
The robot took two years to develop, with the device tested at the club late last year and put into full-time operation at Clear Water Bay in January. The club said it cost more than HK$1 million (US$128,700).
Chan and a team of five looked at similar machines designed overseas but found them unsuitable because they were made for different types of junk from the sea.
“The marine debris overseas mainly consists of branches, which is different from the styrofoam found in Hong Kong,” he side. The methods of gathering rubbish also varied.
His team designed Galatea as a floating platform made of metal and a repurposed rubbish bin. It has two rotating belts which create a whirling force that can gather and suck in the marine waste.
Chan said by generating a vortex of sufficient force, the machine was able to suck up even the tiniest styrofoam particles.
“I hope the robot can be widely adopted in the community, including in public areas, to make a more significant contribution in the future,” he said.
According to marine environmental scientists at City University, about 3.2 billion pieces of tiny plastic pollutants flow from Hong Kong drains into the sea every day.
The environmental group WWF has estimated that at least 11 million tonnes of plastic enter the world’s oceans every year, posting substantial threats to marine ecosystems and humans.
