Nitya was keen to make a river cleaning robot during her last science fair. Her intent was neither to win the show nor to impress her friends. Her sole objective was to bring awareness about this very important topic of clean rivers amongst her peers and visitors.

Environment sustainability is not just a buzzword but the need of the hour. Climate change, polluted water, ocean health are the major issues to be solved. The impact of these issues affects every domain in small or large amounts. In-fact clear water and sanitation is one of the 17 sustainable goals set by UN.

One great way to bring awareness is to encourage children to build DIY science projects that focus on solving these environmental issues.

So in this blog post, we are making a project that addresses the issue of water pollution. Yes, a river cleaning robot using havi elements and a propeller. This river cleaning robot project has two parts.
1. We will make a propeller boat first.
2. Equip the boat with a net that collects the garbage from the surface of the water, to convert it into a river cleaning boat.

This water cleaning boat project can be your next science fair STEM project on environment sustainability.

How to make river cleaning robot

Things you need

Elements:
Power
Motor

Accessories:
Geared motor
Power bank with USB cable
Wheel
Propeller
Bottles – 2

Craft material:
Double sided tape
Wire ties with lock(the one that is used to seal the bags at shopping malls)
Cable ties
White open weave bandage(Used in first aid kit)
Transparent plastic
Thin metal rod/wire

You can get the elements and accessories for making this diy propeller boat from Havi’s 100 in 1 robotics kit.

The making of river cleaning robot project model

Step 1
Attach the geared motor vertically at the back side(opposite to the side where the logo is engraved) of the car plate tightly using wire ties.

Step 2
Stick two medium-sized leak-proof bottles using double-sided tape. Make sure that the caps are tightly closed and are facing the opposite directions.

Step 3
Remove the wheel grip. Stick the propeller over the yellow ring of the wheel using DST. Do not forget to fix the wheel grip again after completing the project.

Step 4
Connect the geared motor with the wheel by matching the shaft with the slot.

Step 5
Snap the circuit: Power + Motor. Connect the power bank using the USB cable. Connect the geared motor with the motor element.

Step 6
The river cleaning boat is going to float over the water surface. So, to protect the circuit & power bank from water, wrap the circuit using transparent plastic. Then stick that over the car plate using DST.

Step 7
We have made a propeller boat so far. Let’s make a filter net or garbage collector to convert this into a river cleaning robot. Take sturdy but bendable metal wire and mold it into C shape as shown.

Take a piece of white open weave bandage. Cover the wire with the corners of the piece. Fix it using simple cable ties. Make the filter net structure.

Step 8
Now place and connect the prepared net structure at the front of the boat model (where the logo is imprinted) using cable ties.

Place the DIY propeller boat in a big enough container of water. Put some wrappers, papers etc into the container. Now, place your river cleaning boat on the water and turn the power element on.

Your water cleaning propeller boat project is ready to collect the surface waste.

How does it work?

The DIY river cleaning robot has two empty bottles. What do we mean by empty? It’s not empty, it’s filled with air. Since the bottles are leak proof, the air keeps the boat floating in the water.

The next important mechanism of our river cleaning robot is the propeller. The placement and rotation of the propeller moves the water that results into the motion of the boat. When the propeller rotates, it creates a force that pushes the water backwards, and this force makes the boat move forward.

So, as soon as we turn ON the power element, it passes current to the motor element and the connected geared motor starts. With that, the attached propeller starts spinning and the boat moves.

As soon as the DIY boat moves, the connected filter net starts collecting the garbage from water or river surface.

Advantages when implemented in the real world

Water cleaning boats are helpful for reducing surface water waste and can be used in rivers, lakes and all other water bodies. Industries can make such boats with high powered propellers in real life.

Also, these robots, when made with high capacity collectors, can be helpful for collecting the Algae from the water surface.

So children, parents, and teachers, what are your thoughts? Build this super cool environmental DIY STEM project working model for your next science fair and contribute towards environmental awareness.