ARTEMIS

“Aquatic Remote Technology Environmental Mitigation (and) Intercept System”

We first introduced ARTEMIS with a post on our website here written by Archit, ARTEMIS’ technical owner on behalf of the Derby & Sandiacre Canal Trust (DSCT). Following ARTEMIS on Twitter: @artemisboat

The Concept

During the construction of the Derby Riverboat in 2019, it was realised that the Trust could use this opportunity to develop a project that could help in spreading awareness about water pollution caused by micro/macro plastics from our local rivers; and that’s how the idea of ARTEMIS was born!

ARTEMIS is a radio-controlled boat. It was designed to inspire a new generation of engineers to design new technology and apply it to help face the big challenges faced across the world. ARTEMIS took part in the Canal and River Trust’s Plastic Challenge in 2023; it has now been decommissioned and is now an interactive demo on the Derby Riverboat. Watch the video to see it in action!

The Design

The boat was designed to consist of adjoined dual hulls made from non-degradable plastic, with both a plastic collection system employed on-board. Micro & macro plastics will be collected from the water’s surface using the space between the hull sections as a “mouth” and a collection guard, to stop floating plastic escaping.

The original design was revised to improve robustness. Keeping the previous dual hull system in mind, swimming floats were used create the hulls, they were secured using acrylic sheets. The Hulls were secured using square tubing that will also allow the water to pass through and filter any micro-macro plastic using an appropriate sieving mechanism. The vessel is radio controlled, and the Dave Fillingham, a retired Rolls-Royce employee, has supported the development of the vessel’s control system.

The Derby and Sandiacre Canal Trust would like to thank the following people for their fantastic support throughout this project:

Archit Sharma – A Manufacturing Engineer at Rolls-Royce who managed this project and did much of the construction work in his own garage!

Dave Fillingham – A Retired Engineer from Rolls-Royce whose expertise in control electronics enabled ARTEMIS to run in the first place

Dr Michael Sweet – Marine Biologist at the University of Derby who shared his expertise on the environmental impact of plastics as part of this project.

If you would like to find out more about how plastics in rivers affects the marine environment follow this link… Introduction to the problem of Plastic in Rivers – YouTube