Autonomous, zero-emission BeBot is patrolling the shores of the Great Lakes to filter out plastics before they reach Canada’s waterways
BeBot has landed on the shore of an Ontario lake to help with The Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup project. Photo: Searial Cleaners
Autonomous, zero-emission BeBot is patrolling the shores of the Great Lakes to filter out plastics before they reach Canada’s waterways
A new electric robot is taking beach combing to a new level in Ontario this summer.
If you find yourself at Lake Simcoe in the coming months you may spot an unusual device slowly trolling along the shore.
Please meet, BeBot.
It is an autonomous, battery-electric robot developed by France-based Searial Cleaners and Italian-headquartered Niteko, and launched by Pollution Probe as part of the Great Lakes Plastic Cleanup project.
According to Searial Cleaners, the BeBot on Lake Simcoe is the first deployment of the machine in Canada.
BeBot specs
Some say the BeBot looks like a Mars-rover. And others say its like a Zamboni (though the obvious pun is “Sand-boni”).
It’s makers describe it as a “Beach-screening robot – eco-friendly and silent” that can run around the clock due to its non-noise polluting design.
It’s duties includes that it, “screens sand, rakes seaweed, levels out expanses of beach, and lifts and carries loads. It collects all waste buried in the defined area.”
BeBot can operate for up to three hours on a single charge and has a cleaning capacity of 3,000 m2 per charge.
In addition, the BeBot carries solar panels to assist in recharging while operating. A full recharge takes eight hours.
BeBot is joining the Great Lakes Clean Up five years after it launched. Between 2020 and 2024, the program removed at least 244,726 pieces of debris from waterways.
BeBot is already in use in the United States and its sister technologies — InvisiBubble and Collec’Thor — are already in use in various locations across Canada.
