AI against plastic waste

22 May 2025 15:00 Environment

The Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) has presented the advanced SeaClear 2.0 robot system in live operation for the first time at its Harburg site. The objective of this European research project is to utilise autonomous robots to effectively detect, categorise, and eliminate marine debris from both the surface and the seabed.

The system combines unmanned underwater and surface vehicles with drones. Thanks to artificial intelligence (AI) and high-resolution sensors, SeaClear2.0 can identify and remove waste from difficult-to-access or high-risk areas with minimal human intervention. The HPA and its project partners unveiled the previous model, SeaClear, in 2022. New features include a powerful gripper arm for larger objects and an escort boat to bring the recovered waste to shore.

Our oceans contain around 25 million tonnes of plastic waste, over 90 per cent of which is on the seabed. Up to 500,000 tonnes of macroplastics and 130,000 tonnes of microplastics end up in European waters every year. Conventional recovery methods are expensive and dangerous, but SeaClear2.0 offers a promising alternative.

Environmental campaigns have been carried out with NABU in parallel with the further development of the technology. As part of the current testing campaign, a policy workshop was held with the relevant authorities, research institutions, civil society organisations, and industry representatives, with the aim of developing political solutions for waste prevention.

Lennart Kinau, Head of Strategy and Communication at the Hamburg Port Authority (HPA), said: 'With SeaClear2.0, we are using cutting-edge technologies to tackle plastic waste in our waters head on. By combining robotics, artificial intelligence, and digital twins, we are developing innovative solutions to genuine environmental issues. It is important to us to involve the HPA and the Port of Hamburg in European projects. Although we do not face the same waste recovery challenges as those in the oceans, SeaClear2.0 provides us with the opportunity to gain insights into how we can further improve the efficiency of our port infrastructure and processes – for instance, by addressing disruptions in the water or utilising sensor technology more effectively."

Johannes Oeffner is the Team Leader of Maritime Technology and Bionics at the Fraunhofer Centre for Maritime Logistics and Services. 'SeaClear2.0 expands the SeaClear system as a whole and is designed to enable larger pieces of underwater waste to be automatically detected and removed from the water column.' The recent pilot campaign in the Port of Hamburg was an important step, bringing together all of the partners' robot components to test and demonstrate the system to the public. Our specially developed unmanned surface vehicle (USV), the SeaDragon, can autonomously dock with the SeaCat USV and successfully retrieve waste from the gripper.'

Dr Ing. Stefan Sosnowski, Project Manager at the Technical University of Munich (TUM): 'Although the task may sound simple at first, recovering waste underwater is a complex challenge for robot systems. For us, this is a great opportunity to test the potential of our research results in robotics, control engineering and machine learning in the most challenging conditions. The great thing about SeaClear2.0 is that we can conduct cutting-edge research and benefit the environment at the same time."

About SeaClear2.0

The SeaClear2.0 project (seaclear2.eu) is funded by the European Union as part of its ‘Restore our Oceans and Waters’ mission. The project is setting new standards in the development of autonomous technologies for cleaning up the oceans. The project's goal is to develop a fully automated system for detecting and recovering marine litter. This system will consist of drones, unmanned surface vehicles, remote-controlled underwater robots (ROVs), and an intelligent gripper arm.

The SeaClear2.0 project brings together the expertise of research institutions, industry partners, and civil society organisations from nine European countries. Three partners are involved from Germany:

The Hamburg Port Authority (HPA) is an industrial partner and the host of the first live demonstration in the Port of Hamburg.
Fraunhofer CML is developing the 'SeaDragon', an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) that will serve as an autonomous carrier system for sensor technology and recovered underwater waste.
The Technical University of Munich (TUM) is responsible for developing the 'Smart Grapple', a precise robotic gripper designed for the safe recovery of underwater waste.

SeaClear2.0 is an innovative solution to one of the most pressing environmental problems of our time: marine pollution caused by plastic waste.