Razer, announced a partnership with marine waste cleaning enterprise, ClearBot, in celebration of World Oceans Day, which is in line with Razer’s 10-year #GoGreenWithRazer sustainability roadmap.
With approximately 11 million tons of plastics entering the oceans each year, ocean cleaning enterprises often face difficulties with dated technology, cost, and efficiency. The ClearBot team designs robots that leverage AI-vision to identify different types of marine plastic waste and collects information regarding these pollutants in the oceans to protect aquatic life. ClearBot robots are deployed to retrieve marine plastic waste, which is then responsibly disposed.
“We are extremely happy to have the opportunity to work with a startup focused on saving the environment,” said Patricia Liu, Chief of Staff at Razer. “ClearBot’s unique AI and advanced machine learning technology will enable and empower governments and organizations around the world to broaden their sustainability efforts. We urge other innovative startups to reach out to Razer for collaboration opportunities as we strive to make the world a safer place for future generations.”
Cleaning Marine Waste with AI Technology
Under the ClearBot partnership, Razer’s leading engineers and designers have volunteered personal time and technical expertise to help turn their prototype into a scalable, mass-marketable product. Leveraging on Razer’s extensive knowledge and manufacturing know-how, ClearBot was able to evolve the robot design into one that is smarter and more efficient.
The newly designed and fully automated robot is armed with cutting-edge AI and machine learning capabilities that can detect marine plastics within two meters in rough waters. The robot can collect up to 250 kg of plastics in just one cycle, while running on solar-powered energy.
“The Razer team’s action-oriented approach to solving marine waste issues was extremely eye-opening. We are grateful to the team who volunteered their time for this project,” said Sidhant Gupta, Chief Executive Officer at ClearBot. “With the new model, we’re confident in extending our reach globally to protect marine waters, starting with partners which include marine harbor operators in Asia and NGOs who have already expressed interest. Together with Razer, we look forward to effecting positive change for the world.”
To drive active participation from the community during this year’s World Oceans Day, ClearBot has issued a call to action through its program to collect data on marine plastic waste. The community is encouraged to upload photos of marine plastic waste commonly found in open waters onto ClearBot’s website. The research and design team will add this information to ClearBot’s existing database to help improve the robot’s waste detection AI algorithm.
To learn more about ClearBot or participate in the program, please visit http://www.clearbot.org.
