Challenge –
Wastemanagement in ports

Garbage in the sea: More and more plastic ends up in the ocean. This problem is also found in the Baltic Sea and in regional ports. Ships arrive at ports with a wide variety of waste, such as sewage, solid waste, and hazardous waste. Parts of the garbage end up in the water and thus contribute to the pollution and contamination of the oceans.

Katharina and Stephan addressed exactly this problem during ORCC22. While Stephan brought his personal experiences as a sailor from childhood days and his knowledge as a software engineer to the group, Katharina complemented the team competencies with her UX/UI & industrial design background and knowledge of materials as well as her DIY mentality.

Both had prior experience with the design thinking process and iterative work to quickly produce problem-oriented results. With an open and creative mind, the team was able to iterate ideas quickly and narrow the focus to one solution approach.

For example, during the hackathon, Team CareBoat succeeded in developing a new playful and educational idea to fish trash out of the water in harbors.

But what exactly is CareBoat and how did this idea come about in the first place?

At the start of the hackathon, the team held talks with the managing director of Sporthafen GmbH in Kiel and local divers who are also regularly involved in cleanup campaigns in the Baltic Sea.

This was followed by a discussion of possible solutions. Ideas ranged from stationary trash cans and cleaning stations to digital planning and guidance systems. The OEOO ship “Manatee,” which can collect floating garbage, ultimately gave the team the idea of applying this concept to remote-controlled boats.

Since the team didn’t have any RC materials, they bought an RC toy boat and built a first prototype out of it with simple hardware store materials. The prototype was adapted and optimized in several test trials in line with the motto “build-measure-learn”. The result is the DIY Kit CareBoat.

With CareBoat, children can build their own remote-controlled boat to fish trash out of the water in a fun way. In this way, they are educated at a young age about the waste pollution of our oceans and sensitized to the environment. At the same time, Katharina and Stephan also want to pass on to the children the fun they had developing and building the CareBoat.

Copyright: Nicole Riederer Lightnic Photography