Success case

Open Innovation for Marine Pollution: Wind-Powered Sailing Robot “Protei” Is Cleaning Oil Spills, Material Wastes, and Chemical Pollutants in the Ocean

In order to resolve the world’s oil spill issues caused by the Deepwater Horizon Disaster in the Gulf of Mexico, Protei (a wind-powered and automated sailing fleet robot) was developed by MakerBay and Seeed. By shifting its shapes according to water waves and wind directions, the robot has been useful in collecting and cleaning thin sheens of light oil on water surfaces. Thanks to the fact that it is robustly built to survive in harsh weather conditions and hazardous chemical zones, it is now also used to clean material wastes and other chemical pollutants in the ocean. Now, Protei is the ongoing result of glocal open innovation communities. Accordingly, this Project seeks to achieve the UN’s SDGs 6, 14, 11, 15, 3, 1, 7, 9, 8, 12, 13 and 17.

Open Innovation for Marine Pollution: Wind-Powered Sailing Robot “Protei” Is Cleaning Oil Spills, Material Wastes, and Chemical Pollutants in the Ocean
Industry
Environment & Sustainability
Region
全球·开源研发
Application
Marine oil-spill cleanup research

Project background and needs

Protei is a global open-source marine pollution project involving MakerBay and Seeed, researching wind-sailing, shape-shifting hull robots to collect surface oil spills and other pollutants.

Pollution cleanup

  • The project targets marine oil-spill cleanup.
  • Manned fishing-vessel response exposes crews to toxins and health risks.

Needs to reduce cleanup crews entering hazardous waters.

Prototype reproducibility

  • The project's goals include durability, low cost, and easy reproducibility.
  • The team keeps testing prototypes and comparing sailing and cleanup technique efficiency.

Needs an open-source design that communities can build and iterate on.

Solution and architecture

Sailing and hull

Protei uses a soft hull that flexes with water waves, sailing with wind and currents.

Open-source iteration

The team develops multiple versions with the Open Sailing community; Seeed provides hardware, funding, and customization resources.

Solution components

  • Protei软船体帆船机器人

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