Twenty years after its first-generation design was introduced (2002), iRobot’s Roomba has spawned many competitors for indoor cleanup and made several advancements to its initial capabilities. Interactive Autonomous Dynamic Systems (IADYS) has applied the autonomous robot concept to address cleaner and safer water in rivers, canals, lakes, ponds, shipyards, and more. IADYS’ Jellyfishbot autonomously collects waste and detects hydrocarbons on the surface of various water bodies.
Small enough to easily carry and set up on a golf course pond, the Jellyfishbot can collect floating waste and invasive organisms such as duckweed, pick up golf balls and fireworks residues, and collect hydrocarbons. Equipped with various optional probes, it can also measure the quality of the water (salinity, temperature, turbidity, cyanobacteria (microorganisms related to bacteria that are capable of photosynthesis), and phytoplankton (plant-like organisms that play a crucial role in removing carbon dioxide from the air) concentration levels and more on lakes, ocean inlets or rivers.
Different types of sensors help the Jellyfishbot improve waterways and avoid interference with other ongoing activities. For example, obstacle avoidance is achieved using LiDAR. For remote control when it is out of view, an onboard camera allows an operator to perform navigation. The Jellyfishbot can be equipped with a variety of probes to measure the quality of the water and perform bathymetric studies of the beds or floors of water bodies, including the ocean, rivers, streams, and lakes.
Four versions of the Jellyfishbot are available for different operating modes: the starter pack is a remotely controlled version for confined areas, the open pack with an onboard camera, global navigation system, and 4G connection is for autonomous operation in more open areas where the robot can operate autonomously with a minimum of 10m from objects, the smart pack is the autonomous version with fixed obstacle avoidance, and the advanced pack is an autonomous version for movable obstacle avoidance.
