Customer: TOPDelft / Hoogheemraadschap Delfland
Website: kroboot.com
Duckweed is a considerable problem for the Delfland Water Authority (DWA). The DWA is responsible for the water quality in Delfland. Duckweed disturbs the flora and fauna by letting the sunlight not penetrate the water and it also creates nuisance for civilians due to a bad odor. Up to this point, removing duckweed is a labor intensive job and for this reason very expensive. It is essential to remove duckweed from the water at an early stage to prevent the duckweed from growing out to enormous amounts, which makes it almost impossible to clean up.
Currently a team of students at the TU Delft is developing an autonomous robot that is able to clean ditches and canals from duckweed at an early stage, before it becomes an issue. At these places it needs to localize the duckweed, go to the duckweed and remove the duckweed from the water. The robot will not remove an entire deck of duckweed but will limit itself to removing only small amounts of duckweed, to prevent it from developing into thick layers.