Meet the new “garbage collector” of the sea: A new crab robot, designed to sample the waters looking for microplastics polluting the ocean, made its first dive on Saturday, World Oceans Day, in the sea off the Italian coast. The Crab Robot SILVER 2 (Seabed-Interaction Legged Vehicle for Exploration and Research 2), a robot explorer of the seabed created by the Institute of Robotics of the Scuola Superiore Sant’Anna di Pisa, supported by National Geographic Society and Arbi Dario Spa, was deployed off the Meloria shoal, in the Ligurian sea. 

Soon, the robot will be equipped with an arm that collects plastic bags, bottles, and other forms of plastic pollution. The crab robot has the ability to move, walk, and run on the seabed. The six agile, crab-like legs allow the robot to adapt to the changing seabed soil, bounce on the ground without causing damage, and circumvent obstacles.