Oil pollution tackled by robotic fish

Two year 10 students from Moriah College in Sydney have won a national competition with a concept that uses robotic fish to clean oil spills from the ocean.

Mika Rom and Laila Bolot took out the FishTank Competition, an initiative of Ocean Lovers, beating entrants from primary and secondary schools across Australia. The pair received $3000 in prize money, a portion of which they have pledged to Moriah’s Sustainability Committee, with the remainder split between them personally.

The competition, held annually at the Ocean Lovers Festival at Bondi Beach, challenges young Australians to develop innovative solutions for protecting the ocean. The girls’ invention centres on a solar-powered robotic fish that propels itself through oil-contaminated water. As it moves, oil is pushed into a mouth cavity lined with a hydrophobic filter that separates oil from water, allowing only oil to pass through into the fish’s interior. When the fish reaches capacity, a sensor alerts scientists, who retrieve the device, extract the oil for repurposing, and return the fish to the water.

To prevent interference from marine life, the robots are coated in a fish repellent already used on scientific devices operating in the ocean. The substance is harmless to sea creatures but effective in keeping them at a distance, Laila said.

“They are designed so that they look like fish, but also that they wouldn’t be eaten by sharks or anything like that,” Mika said.