Autonomous water cleaning boat on trial at park in Hefei

On July 12, a water surface cleaning robot developed by the Hefei Institutes of Physical Science (HFIPS) made its debut at Shufengwan Park in Hefei City, Anhui Province.

This robot boat can drive autonomously on water via self-driving functions including path planning and obstacle avoidance, and is equipped with sensors that can sense the conditions of water surface. It can also switch between manned and unmanned modes to adapt to occasional demands of the sanitation staff. Its 2 compartment trash bin can contain up to 1.5 cubic meters of garbage weighing 100 kilograms at most. Recent tests show that its efficiency is more than 5 times that of a traditional manual cleaning boat, and can save the labor cost by over 80%. (Photo by Xu Minhao)

The autonomous robot is working with a traditional cleaning boat together.