Uncrewed Systems Technology 048 | Kodiak Driver | 5G focus | Tiburon USV | Skypersonic Skycopter and Skyrover | CES 2023 | Limbach L 2400 DX and L 550 EFG | NXInnovation NX 100 Enviro | Solar power focus | Protegimus Protection

94 W hile people around the world now acknowledge the importance of environmental sustainability and helping the planet, it remains a sad and common sight for those living in city waterfronts to see litter strewn in urban waters. The conventional approach to clearing litter fromwaterways is to use a handheld net while standing on either the waterside if the rubbish is close by, or on a boat if it is out of reach. Such boats are typically diesel- powered though, so are not ideal for the environment either. Using them is also labour-intensive and energy-inefficient, given that the boat must physically navigate through litter while carrying at least one sanitation worker. This problem is understood by Andrew Lee, co-founder of NXInnovation, a New Zealand-based designer and manufacturer of USVs dedicated to making autonomous solutions for environmental restoration projects. “Auckland is New Zealand’s largest city, and it’s built around a giant harbour, so we have estuaries everywhere; together, the estuaries function as a stormwater drain for the city,” he explains. “Everything flows into those estuaries, and a lot of them aren’t accessible by foot or normal boat, or their accessibility changes between high and low tides. “The estuaries are therefore where most of Auckland’s stray plastic waste accumulates. The city authorities – along with my colleagues and I, who spend a lot of time in New Zealand’s marinas – wanted a tool that could be carried easily by one person, deployed with similar ease from shores or crewed boats, and be entrusted to autonomously navigate the waterways intelligently as they narrow or widen between tidal shifts.” Naturally, it would also need to be capable of carrying and using some manner of net for catching and hauling litter through the waterways it navigates. Lee adds that small spills of oil, petrol and industrial discharge also tend to accumulate in the estuaries in Auckland (and essentially any other city waterfront in the world), so an oil clean-up boom or similar would be needed as well. “There will also be emergency situations where there might be a large spill of hydrocarbons or industrial run- off in a river, so we wanted to make the solution small and rugged enough Clean sweep February/March 2023 | Uncrewed Systems Technology The company behind this autonomous system for cleaning up aquatic litter and chemical spills tell Rory Jackson what went into its design The Enviro 100 is a 1 m-long USV that can carry a net for collecting refuse fromwaterways and estuaries (Images courtesy of NXInnovation)