Plastic Waste is Exponentially Filling our Oceans, but where are the Robots?

Abstract

Plastic waste is filling our oceans at an exponential rate. The situation is catastrophic and has now garnered worldwide attention. Despite the catastrophic conditions, little to no robotics research is conducted in the identification, collection, sorting, and removal of plastic waste from oceans and rivers and at the macro- and micro-scale. Only a scarce amount of individual efforts can be found from private sources. This paper presents a cursory view of the current plastic water waste catastrophe, associated robot research, and other efforts currently underway to address the issue. As well as the call that as a community, we must wait no longer to address the problem. Surely there is much potential for robots to help meet the challenges posed by the enormity of this problem.