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The fight against water pollution in India might get a technological boost from an unlikely source: robot boats. Hong Kong-based marine tech startup Clearbot is deploying its fleet of autonomous vessels in Indian rivers and oceans, aiming to tackle the ever-growing problem of waste and contamination. According to a report by South China Morning Post, Utkarsh Goel, the startup’s co-founder and CTO, said “We want to build these boats that do this dirty, dirty job that is happening with [manned, diesel] boats around the world and automate them and make them more sustainable.”
Started in 2019, Clearbot emerged from a student initiative aimed at aiding Indonesian surfers in efficiently clearing waterways clogged with debris, a challenge local communities struggled to tackle effectively.Co-founded by Goel and Sidhant Gupta, the project unveiled a pressing need for sustainable infrastructure within the global marine services sector.
The startup has already deployed 13 boats in India and Hong Kong, successfully collecting tons of waste, claims the report. Their new generation of larger vessels promises double the waste collection capacity.
Pilot project in Shillong
In September, Clearbot conducted a pilot project in the northeastern city of Shillong, India, demonstrating its capacity to remove between 600kg to 700kg of waste from a local lake within just three days. Additionally, the organisation is actively engaged in a project located in Bengaluru, situated in southern India.
“Most of the growth that our company expects to have is in India. We expect to scale up in India because there is enough demand,” said Goel told South China Morning Post.
“In India there’s huge volumes of trash [in the waters], and this year we are hoping that we will make a real impact with the product that we have,” he added.
India faces a significant water pollution challenge. According to a 2022 Central Pollution Control Board report, over 70% of the country’s surface water is polluted, primarily due to industrial waste, untreated sewage, and agricultural runoff.
Started in 2019, Clearbot emerged from a student initiative aimed at aiding Indonesian surfers in efficiently clearing waterways clogged with debris, a challenge local communities struggled to tackle effectively.Co-founded by Goel and Sidhant Gupta, the project unveiled a pressing need for sustainable infrastructure within the global marine services sector.
The startup has already deployed 13 boats in India and Hong Kong, successfully collecting tons of waste, claims the report. Their new generation of larger vessels promises double the waste collection capacity.
Pilot project in Shillong
In September, Clearbot conducted a pilot project in the northeastern city of Shillong, India, demonstrating its capacity to remove between 600kg to 700kg of waste from a local lake within just three days. Additionally, the organisation is actively engaged in a project located in Bengaluru, situated in southern India.
“Most of the growth that our company expects to have is in India. We expect to scale up in India because there is enough demand,” said Goel told South China Morning Post.
“In India there’s huge volumes of trash [in the waters], and this year we are hoping that we will make a real impact with the product that we have,” he added.
India faces a significant water pollution challenge. According to a 2022 Central Pollution Control Board report, over 70% of the country’s surface water is polluted, primarily due to industrial waste, untreated sewage, and agricultural runoff.
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