Robots Fight Oil Spills: Sheco Tests Unmanned Sea Cleanup With Coast Guard

The Korea Coast Guard has conducted a pilot demonstration of unmanned water-purification operations, using an autonomous robotic boat to remove oil pollutants floating on the sea.

The Korea Institute of Startup and Entrepreneurship Development said on the 25th that it had selected Sheco as the first company for the robotics segment of the “Government First Demonstration and Procurement Project.” The project links the government’s demand to pilot cutting-edge technologies with the technologies of ventures and startups. It is carried out with the aim of having the government first demonstrate innovative products from small and medium-sized enterprises and seek their initial sales channels.

Sheco is a startup founded in 2019 that develops products including CCTV for detecting marine pollution activities and robots that automatically collect marine debris. The demonstration by the Coast Guard and Sheco took place on the 23rd in the area of the Incheon public vessel wharf. That day, Sheco demonstrated the marine oil-spill recovery function of its flagship “ARK” series. The ARK series is a ship-model robot measuring 1 meter in length and weighing 130 kilograms, equipped with functions such as autonomous navigation, automatic recognition of surface pollutants, marine debris recovery, and oil-water separation. In the demonstration, the ARK series was floated on the sea, and under a scenario simulating an oil-spill accident, the robot automatically recognized marine pollution and removed the oil in an unmanned operation.

Regarding Sheco’s demonstration, the Coast Guard praised it, saying, “This is an important case showing the potential for startups’ innovative technologies to contribute to building the national disaster safety net,” adding, “We hope that advanced robots optimized for the Coast Guard will be swiftly introduced in the field.”

Meanwhile, starting with the Coast Guard, the National Police Agency, the Korea Heritage Service, the Seoul Metropolitan Government, and the Army are set to join the robotics-segment demonstrations of the Government First Demonstration and Procurement Project in the second half of this year.