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16 I n the Dutch port of Rotterdam, a small autonomous boat is busy in the docks collecting trash. It’s the Waste Shark, the brainchild of South African Richard Hardiman, and the start of a journey to much larger fully autonomous craft. “The idea for a rubbish-clearing vehicle was born in Cape Town,” says Hardiman, chief executive and founder of RanMarine Technology. “I had built a couple of prototypes in South Africa and tried them out in a swimming pool with an Arduino controller to see if they would work. From there we got invited to take part in Port XL, the technology incubator set up by the Port of Rotterdam, which is the first of its kind (see sidebar). “We convinced the port to give us an area we could practise in, so they created a ‘drone dock’. Holland is very strict on laws regarding autonomous craft, including airborne vehicles, so for us to get two or three acres of water is advanced thinking by the port. We are now extending the operational area to five or six other places where there is more waste.” The idea is that this is an easy way for ports to get the feel for autonomous vessels in their own environments, but it isn’t the only aim, he says. “The idea with RanMarine Technology is to create a business that deals with autonomous craft in high-traffic areas such as harbours and ports. It’s also good for the port to get used to the idea of things moving around outside their control.” The Waste Shark is the first step in that process, he says. “There are two or three iterations for 2017 that we are working on specifically to clean marine oil and waste, which is a big problem for ports and for vessel operators who are fined if diesel leaks into the water. “We know how to do it, we just have to put the bits and pieces together,” he says. “We use the same platform as the Waste Shark and take out the waste basket. We have developed a system of filters that can handle 3 or 4 litres of contaminated water per minute and recycle clean water back into the dock. “The commercial value behind that is there are all these small spills, and all ports have to clean them up and they spend a lot of time chasing them. We would sit in the middle and hang around Clean sweep December/January 2017 | Unmanned Systems Technology The CEO and founder of RanMarine Technology tells Nick Flaherty how he plans to use autonomous systems to rid the world’s ports of garbage