Oil-absorbing (nanotechnology-enabled) robots at Venice Biennale?

MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) researchers are going to be presenting nano-enabled oil-absorbing robots, Seaswarm, at the Venice Biennale , (from the news item on Nanowerk),

Using a cutting edge nanotechnology, researchers at MIT have created a robotic prototype that could autonomously navigate the surface of the ocean to collect surface oil and process it on site.

The system, called Seaswarm, is a fleet of vehicles that may make cleaning up future oil spills both less expensive and more efficient than current skimming methods. MIT’s Senseable City Lab will unveil the first Seaswarm prototype at the Venice Biennale’s Italian Pavilion on Saturday, August 28. The Venice Biennale is an international art, music and architecture festival whose current theme addresses how nanotechnology will change the way we live in 2050.

I did look at the Biennale website for more information about the theme and about Seaswarm but details, at least on the English language version of the website, are nonexistent. (Note: The Venice Biennale was launched in 1895 as an art exhibition. Today the Biennale features, cinema, architecture, theatre, and music as well as art.)

You can find out more about Seaswarm at MIT’s senseable city lab here and/or you can watch this animation,

The animation specifically mentions BP and the Gulf of Mexico oil spill and compares the skimmers used to remove oil from the ocean with Seaswarm skimmers outfitted with  nanowire meshes,

The Seaswarm robot uses a conveyor belt covered with a thin nanowire mesh to absorb oil. The fabric, developed by MIT Visiting Associate Professor Francesco Stellacci, and previously featured in a paper published in the journal Nature Nanotechnology, can absorb up to twenty times its own weight in oil while repelling water. By heating up the material, the oil can be removed and burnt locally and the nanofabric can be reused.

“We envisioned something that would move as a ‘rolling carpet’ along the water and seamlessly absorb a surface spill,” said Senseable City Lab Associate Director Assaf Biderman. “This led to the design of a novel marine vehicle: a simple and lightweight conveyor belt that rolls on the surface of the ocean, adjusting to the waves.”

The Seaswarm robot, which is 16 feet long and seven feet wide, uses two square meters of solar panels for self-propulsion. With just 100 watts, the equivalent of one household light bulb, it could potentially clean continuously for weeks.

I’d love to see the prototype in operation not to mention getting a chance to attend La Biennale.

One thought on “Oil-absorbing (nanotechnology-enabled) robots at Venice Biennale?

  1. Pingback: Removing pollutants from water with nano-brushes « FrogHeart

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