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.

The idea originated as a STEM class assessment in year 9, when students were tasked with devising a product addressing ocean sustainability.

After receiving full marks, the school encouraged the pair to enter the competition.

“We did a lot of preliminary research and found that one of the most problematic areas for sustainability in our oceans is oil spills from ships,” Laila said.

Mika said she believed the concept had genuine commercial potential, even if significant technological development would be required to bring it to scale.

“I do think that it’s definitely possible,” she said.

“With the right resources, definitely.”

The pair said the final design had emerged through an open-ended brainstorming process.

“I don’t even remember how it ended up getting where it was,” Mika said.

“Just a lot of little ideas that contributed to the final thing.”

Their career ambitions diverge along the lines of the project itself. Laila said she was particularly drawn to the biomimicry elements of the design, in which features were modelled on natural organisms, and is considering a future in biotechnology or microbiology. Mika said the experience of developing a product with potential real-world impact had been meaningful to her, though she has not yet committed to a specific field.

“I found the idea of creating a product that addresses a problem in our world enjoyable,” she said. “Being able to contribute my own ideas to something that could have a legitimate impact, I think that was very meaningful to me.”