Development of Garbage Collecting Robot for Marine Microplastics

Abstract

Marine microplastics originate from plastic products and are crushed as they drift through the ocean, posing a serious threat to marine ecosystems. Nonetheless, collecting these scattered and small microplastics by hand from washed-up beaches is challenging. Consequently, we are working on designing a cleaning robot to automatically gather marine microplastics on beaches. This paper outlines the primary mechanism of the cleaning robot and explores the necessary functions for effective microplastic collection. Two kinds of experiments exploring the behavior of sand in stationary and dynamically states, “Pseudo-Angle of Repose Measurement Experiment” and “Claw Excavation Experiment”, are carried out using an experimental model of a cleaning robot.