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A Floating Drone Is Helping To Clean Up Dubai Harbor’s Waters
The PixieDrone cleanup robot is on a mission to collect difficult-to-detect debris.
Dubai Harbor has employed an efficient new AI-powered worker to clean up its waters. The small, floating drone is called a PixieDrone — a waste collection machine fitted with a video camera and remote sensing LIDAR tech.
PixieDrone can operate autonomously for around six hours, collecting and sorting up to 160 liters of organic waste, plastic, glass, paper, metal, cloth, and rubber.
LIDAR (light detection and ranging) sees images in 3D, allowing PixieDrone to quickly understand its surroundings, much like the latest autonomous cars.
Created by French company Searial Cleaners, PixieDrone can travel at 3 kph for up to 12 km on a single charge. The company’s website does note that the robot can operate at a maximum ambient temperature of 50°C, which could eventually become an issue in the UAE’s sweltering summer heat.
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Measuring 1.62 by 1.15 meters, the robot cleaner is able to fit into tight spaces. Searial Cleaners says the device is specifically built for harbors and coastal aquatic areas.
PixieDrone is not the first waste collection floating drone to work in UAE waters. In 2018, Dubai Marina used WasteShark, made by the Dutch company RanMarine, to collect waste and test air and water quality.