In 2012 Natuurmonumenten started a project to restore the Markermeer and create the Marker Wadden, which is an artificial island group located in the Markermeer. This island group is created with the help of the silt from the bottom of the Markermeer.
This is where Boskalis, one of the largest dredging companies of the world, steps in. Natuurmonumenten asked Boskalis to come up with a solution to automate the relocation of the silt. Since Boskalis uses large dredging ships to remove silt from the bottom of waterways and the mobilization of such ships is rather costly and time consuming, Indepth Dredging has been assigned the task to design and develop a robotic solution.
We are going to create an autonomous robotic system that will be able to remove and relocate the silt from the bottom of the Markermeer to a dumping location, from where the silt is pumped to an artificial island. Note that the system will only be concerned with relocation of silt, not the creation of an artificial island.