RanMarine is the creator of the world’s first commercially available marine drone that collects both waste and data from the world’s waterways. It’s line of industrial remote controlled and autonomous “Sharks” help government bodies and companies concerned with the economic, regulatory, and aesthetic impact of polluted water efficiently remove surface trash and biomass while preventing imbalances in their marine environments.
From estuaries and urban ports to inland rivers and lakes, RanMarine’s multipurpose drones incorporating advanced AI are inspired by nature and restore waterways back to their natural state with zero emissions, limited noise, and a fraction of the investment compared to other methods.
Interview with Richard Hardiman, CEO of RanMarine Technology.
Easy Engineering: What are the main areas of activity of the company?
Richard Hardiman: RanMarine Technology is an autonomous robotics scale-up specialising in the autonomy of vessels/Aqua-drones on water to clean waste from our waterways.
E.E: What’s the news about new products?
R.H: RanMarine is launching a larger version which is capable of removing 1 ton of waste in a single load, this has been developed over the last few years and will be on sale towards the end of 2022. We are also developing a docking station which houses up to 5 WasteSharks at a time, empties their baskets automatically and recharges them making it a total autonomous solution where humans are only required for oversight.
E.E: What are the ranges of products?
R.H: Our primary product, using the company’s proprietary autonomy and robotics software, is the WasteShark. The WasteShark is designed to robotically harvest plastic and biomass waste from urban waterways in smart cities, ports and harbours. Additionally, to waste harvesting the drone also collects water quality data and depth measurements. The RanMarine team is constantly researching and developing new products and expect to launch new products in the coming months.
E.E: At what stage is the market where you are currently active?
R.H: The market is still in early stages and more focus is now being placed on biomass and plastic waste and there are very few competitors in the market but this is growing. More and more companies are coming with solutions.
E.E: What can you tell us about market trends?
R.H: There are a number of companies in and around Europe researching and developing solutions to clean waste from waterways. We have been successful in that our product can be operated autonomously as well as manually and can move in tight spaces.
E.E: What are the most innovative products marketed?
R.H: The WasteShark is the first in its kind as an autonomous robot removing plastic waste. Other solutions in the market trying to address the issue of plastic waste are The Ocean Cleanup and the Sea Bin.
E.E: What estimations do you have for the rest of 2022?
R.H: We have two new products, ready in prototype phase, which will be launched in the next 4-6 months. In addition, we are looking to expand to the USA market and opening an office later this year.