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Watch this solar-powered beach cleaning robot pick up plastic litter

The League to Save Lake Tahoe tested the remote-controlled "BEBOT" earlier this week at Kiva Beach. It is designed to help dig up small pieces of trash.
Heather Waldman
Meteorologist
Watch this solar-powered beach cleaning robot pick up plastic litter

The League to Save Lake Tahoe tested the remote-controlled "BEBOT" earlier this week at Kiva Beach. It is designed to help dig up small pieces of trash.

well. There is *** new tool to help keep Tahoe Blue, *** trash gathering robot and meteorologist Heather waldman joins us and shows us how it is being used to keep the beaches and the water clean. We're trying to keep up with 15 million visitors *** year and that's *** hard task to do. We might need *** little bit of help from *** robot that robot made its debut yesterday at Lake Tahoe's Kiva Beach. It's called. It's fully electric solar powered and remote controlled and it will hopefully play an important role in keeping trash out of the water. We really see the robot as the last line of defense for the lake for keeping small pollution and litter plastics in particular from getting in the water in the first place. The robot crawls along it, sifts through sand 1 to 4 inches deep, finding small pieces of trash that hardworking volunteers could easily miss In ideal conditions can cover 3000 m in an hour. The robot is being used for pilot testing this year to see how much it could help in the future. Regular cleanup events will still take place. But patterson says we should all focus first on being responsible stewards of Lake Tahoe's environment, leave it better than you found it. Come enjoy this place but you know, pack it in, pack it out. It sounds silly and simple, but it really matters here in. And the league to save Lake Tahoe is planning to use the Bebop beach cleaning robot again on july 5th as part of their annual keep Tahoe Red white and blue cleanup on Nevada Beach. If you visit Lake Tahoe often, you'll likely see it out and about weekly after that heather waldman for k c r e three News, It's cool robot.
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Watch this solar-powered beach cleaning robot pick up plastic litter

The League to Save Lake Tahoe tested the remote-controlled "BEBOT" earlier this week at Kiva Beach. It is designed to help dig up small pieces of trash.
Heather Waldman
Meteorologist
The League to Save Lake Tahoe has been leading litter clean-up efforts for the area's beaches and water for years. Volunteers can easily pick up large pieces of trash, but smaller pieces of plastic can eventually still find their way into the water after sinking into the sand. That's a problem the league is looking to solve with help from a new robot.It's called "BEBOT."It's fully electric, solar-powered and remote-controlled by someone walking behind it. BEBOT's job? Comb through the top few inches of sand to sift out otherwise unseen litter.“This robot is really getting the plastics and the litter just out of our view that could end up in our lake and really cause some damage," said Jesse Patterson, Chief Strategy Officer for the League, which operates under the slogan "Keep Tahoe Blue."Patterson said the robot has been compared to a giant Roomba or a Zamboni. But the rover-like machine is far smaller than that."It's very compact, no emissions, very light pressure on the ground so it's not going to disturb things like our native Tahoe Yellow Cress," Patterson said. A company called Eco Clean Solutions, which is based in France, built BEBOT along with several other robots like it. BEBOT made its U.S. debut in Florida. This week's test event at Lake Tahoe was the first run for the robot on the West Coast. In ideal conditions, the robot can crawl along at 3,000 meters (just under 2 miles) per hour. As it moves along, it sweeps and sifts the top 1 to 4 inches of sand, removing pieces of trash. "We really see the robot as the last line of defense for the lake for keeping small pollution and litter, plastics in particular from getting in the water in the first place," Patterson said.After that, volunteers sort the trash and log what they've found. BEBOT is in a pilot phase this year while the League determines the most effective way to utilize it. Patterson said that Keep Tahoe Blue will still organize regular clean-up events. He also urges all visitors to prioritize being responsible stewards of the environment."Leave it better than you found it," Patterson said. "Come enjoy this place, but pack it in, pack it out. It sounds silly and simple but it really matters here in Tahoe."

The League to Save Lake Tahoe has been leading litter clean-up efforts for the area's beaches and water for years.

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Volunteers can easily pick up large pieces of trash, but smaller pieces of plastic can eventually still find their way into the water after sinking into the sand.

That's a problem the league is looking to solve with help from a new robot.

It's called "BEBOT."

It's fully electric, solar-powered and remote-controlled by someone walking behind it.

BEBOT's job? Comb through the top few inches of sand to sift out otherwise unseen litter.

“This robot is really getting the plastics and the litter just out of our view that could end up in our lake and really cause some damage," said Jesse Patterson, Chief Strategy Officer for the League, which operates under the slogan "Keep Tahoe Blue."

Patterson said the robot has been compared to a giant Roomba or a Zamboni. But the rover-like machine is far smaller than that.

"It's very compact, no emissions, very light pressure on the ground so it's not going to disturb things like our native Tahoe Yellow Cress," Patterson said.

A company called Eco Clean Solutions, which is based in France, built BEBOT along with several other robots like it.

BEBOT made its U.S. debut in Florida. This week's test event at Lake Tahoe was the first run for the robot on the West Coast.

In ideal conditions, the robot can crawl along at 3,000 meters (just under 2 miles) per hour. As it moves along, it sweeps and sifts the top 1 to 4 inches of sand, removing pieces of trash.

"We really see the robot as the last line of defense for the lake for keeping small pollution and litter, plastics in particular from getting in the water in the first place," Patterson said.

After that, volunteers sort the trash and log what they've found.

BEBOT is in a pilot phase this year while the League determines the most effective way to utilize it.

Patterson said that Keep Tahoe Blue will still organize regular clean-up events. He also urges all visitors to prioritize being responsible stewards of the environment.

"Leave it better than you found it," Patterson said. "Come enjoy this place, but pack it in, pack it out. It sounds silly and simple but it really matters here in Tahoe."