Protei, an open source oil spill cleaning robot startup from the United States was appointed as the winner at the SAP conference for Cape Town’s Unreasonable at Sea shore stop today (Tuesday).
The panel of judges was impressed by the principles of biomimicry, the open source environment principles and the “massive impact” the innovation can have worldwide, Simon Carpenter, director of Strategic Initiatives at SAP in Africa said.
The idea originated from the concern of damage to nature because of harmful oil emissions in the ocean, spread by the currents.
Protei provides the solution through a shape shifting robotic sailing boat which cleans up oil while moving in the water.
Although different motoring technologies are applied according to varying sizes, wind power mobilisation and solar power can be implemented to be even more environmentally friendly.
Further possibilities posed by the invention include upscaling of open source hardware, provision of ocean data, playful educational science-focused activities and tablet games associated with the control of the sea-bound robots.
Gabrielle Levine, chief operations officer and Cesar Harada, chief executive officer, are the two founders of Protei.
Judges included Matt Mullenweg, the founder of WordPress.
The Unreasonable at Sea initiative carries 11 startups from across the globe to destinations around the world in a ship where the selected entrepreneurial seafarers are sharpening their skills and business ideas for market success through a program designed by Daniel Epstein, founder of the Unreasonable Institute.
