Dutch people with cleaning robot get help from Microsoft

A startup run by Dutch people is building a cleaning robot that will clean beaches, using robot technology from Microsoft.

When it comes to cleaning up trash, there are two conclusions you can draw. The first is that there is still too much rubbish in nature and it is harmful. The second is that many teams and companies are now doing everything they can to make short work of that mess. The problem is theoretically solved at the core, but that is of no use if the ocean is already so full of junk.

Dutch

Whatever we may conclude: The Netherlands has a number of important players in cleaning up the earth. An unimaginably large project called The Ocean Cleanup by Dutchman Boyan Slat went and continues to go around the world. Project BB of startup TechTics is also run by Dutch people, but can already count on the support of large global companies. The Dutch startup is supported by Microsoft.

Robot technology

Microsoft does not necessarily support the Dutch from Project BB with money or other collaborations, but because the robot works with Trove AI, a project from Microsoft. This self-learning AI system can control robots and they then learn from their mistakes and/or shortcomings. The ultimate goal: cleaning beaches. To do this, of course, the robot needs knowledge of what waste is and what is not. Cigarette butts in particular resemble natural elements that should not be taken. To properly control the robot, 200 photos of what a cigarette butt is have already been stored, but there should be many more. That has to be controlled by people, but then the robot can get to work with it. Trove is a system to make this process easier.

Microsoft put the project in the spotlight as one of the versions done with Trove. For example, the Dutch behind the cleaning robot Project BB get a nice podium from Microsoft. Let’s hope that Project BB can be carried out on a large scale, and that our beaches will be beautifully clean again.