How robots can help us keep our beaches safe and clean.
A sandy beach can be a wonderful place to relax or find hidden treasures, but it can also be quite dangerous. People tend to walk barefoot on the beach without realizing how many hazards can hide within the white sand; broken glass, rusty pieces of metal, or, god forbid, a used syringe. Most public beaches use big tractors to sift through the sand and ensure it’s safe, but these operations require the beach to be closed for visitors, and they can only be done once in a while.
BeBot, the beach cleaning robot, was developed to address all those problems. The BeBot is small enough to operate safely without having to close the beach. It runs on two tracks, so there is limited sand compaction, And It sifts through four inches of sand, picking up items down to the size of five millimeters. It is battery-operated but also has a solar panel to help keep the battery charged. Once its trash container is full, it can be driven to a designated area where all the trash can be disposed of, and then it can go on cleaning the beach.
Because the BeBot uses a sifting mechanism, it is also safe for any small creatures who might be hiding in the sand, like small crabs, barnacles, or even sea turtles.
Our beaches are important to us, and robots can help us keep them clean and safe for everyone to enjoy.
For more information about BeBot:
