Program Structure

Module 1: Environmental Clean-up Challenges and Where Robots Help

• Cleanup contexts: plastics, oil spills, industrial waste, hazardous residues, invasive biomass (overview).
• Why robotics: risk reduction, access to dangerous zones, repeatable operations.
• Key constraints: terrain, weather, water currents, debris diversity, and safety.
• Success metrics: volume collected, area covered, time-to-response, and ecological impact.

Module 2: Robot Platforms for Environmental Operations

• Ground robots (UGVs): landfill cleanup, hazardous sites, beach cleaning (overview).
• Aerial robots (UAVs): surveillance, mapping, and spotting pollution hot zones.
• Surface robots (USVs): river/lake trash collection and oil spill skimming concepts.
• Underwater robots (ROVs/AUVs): inspection, sampling, seabed debris mapping (overview).

Module 3: Sensing, Detection and Environmental Mapping

• Vision systems: RGB cameras and multispectral imaging concepts for debris detection.
• LiDAR mapping: terrain and obstacle detection for navigation.
• Sonar basics: underwater visibility and object detection.
• Environmental sensors: gas/chemical sensors and water quality probes (overview).

Module 4: Autonomy and Navigation (Practical Basics)

• Localization concepts: GPS, SLAM, and sensor fusion (overview).
• Path planning: coverage paths for cleanup and efficient movement.
• Obstacle avoidance and safe human interaction: rules and fail-safes.
• Teleoperation vs autonomy: choosing control modes for risk and reliability.

Module 5: Clean-up Mechanisms and End-Effectors

• Solid waste collection: conveyors, scoops, grippers, suction, and nets.
• Sorting and separation: size-based screening and sensor-guided sorting concepts.
• Oil spill response: skimmers, absorbent deployment, and containment support (overview).
• Sampling tools: automated sample collection for monitoring and verification.

Module 6: Swarm and Multi-Robot Operations (Overview)

• Why multi-robot systems: faster area coverage and redundancy.
• Basic coordination: task allocation and collision avoidance (conceptual).
• Use cases: river trash interception, wildfire debris mapping, coastal monitoring.
• Limits: communication, cost, and maintenance complexity.

Module 7: Data, AI and Decision Support for Clean-up

• Computer vision for debris detection: classification and segmentation concepts.
• Hotspot mapping: geotagging, density maps, and route optimization.
• Predicting debris movement: wind/current-driven drift models (overview).
• Dashboards and reporting: evidence-based cleanup impact summaries.

Module 8: Power, Communication and Field Reliability

• Power options: batteries, solar assist, docking stations (overview).
• Communication: RF/4G/5G/satellite options and offline fallback logic.
• Ruggedization: water ingress protection, corrosion, dust, and thermal management.
• Maintenance planning: spare parts, field repair, and uptime strategy.

Module 9: Safety, Ethics and Regulatory Considerations

• Human safety: operating near people and in public spaces.
• Ecological safety: protecting wildlife and preventing habitat damage.
• Regulatory basics: UAV rules, waterway permissions, and data privacy (overview).
• Responsible claims: reporting real impact and avoiding greenwashing.

Module 10: Implementation Planning (From Prototype to Deployment)

• Pilot planning: site survey, stakeholders, permissions, and risk register.
• KPIs: debris removed, cost per kg, energy per mission, ecological disturbance.
• Operations workflow: collection → storage → transport → recycling/disposal integration.
• Scaling strategy: fleet ops, training, and continuous improvement.

Final Project

• Create a Robotic Clean-up Operations Blueprint for one real scenario.
• Include: site description, robot platform choice, sensors, cleanup mechanism, autonomy level, safety plan, and impact metrics.
• Example projects: river trash interception robot plan, coastal plastic cleanup USV concept, landfill UGV sorting support, underwater debris mapping AUV mission plan, oil spill rapid response robot toolkit blueprint.