AquaSweep

Project members

• Dara Dadgar

• Seif Bedair

• Jared Taylor

• Kavish Kumar Chattoor

• Alex Giroux

Autonomous waterway cleanup robot

The accumulation of trash in small and medium-sized waterways presents a significant environmental challenge. While large-scale cleanup efforts often focus on oceans and ports, smaller waterways such as lakes, bays and channels lack effective and scalable cleaning technologies. Current cleanup methods rely heavily on manual labour, which can be costly, inefficient and limited in scope. This project is developing an autonomous surface vehicle (ASV) designed to collect floating waste in medium-sized waterways, providing a cost-effective and sustainable alternative.

The robot autonomously navigates predefined areas, detects and collects debris, and operates with minimal human supervision. It combines autonomous navigation, mapping and object detection technologies to distinguish between waste and wildlife, helping protect local ecosystems while improving collection efficiency. The system also records collection locations to generate spatial data that can support future cleanup and prevention efforts, linking immediate cleanup activities to longer-term environmental management strategies.

The project applies engineering principles related to marine platform design, power and energy management, closed-loop control systems and autonomous navigation. Its modular architecture allows the same core platform to be adapted with different collection capacities, sensor packages and maintenance plans depending on waterway size, debris type and operational requirements. The solution is also designed to scale through coordinated fleets of robots that can share maps and coverage data across larger areas.

The design is tested through a combination of subsystem validation, controlled-water trials and field testing to evaluate navigation performance, waste detection accuracy and overall system reliability. The project has established an agreement with Parks Canada to support future pilot deployments and validation activities. A phased implementation approach will include prototype validation, pilot projects with public-sector partners and eventual commercialization through unit sales and ongoing maintenance and support services.