iAcademy students roll out innovative waste pickup drone

MANILA, Philippines — iAcademy students impressed tech industry experts with a cutting-edge project that addresses alarming environmental concerns – a mobile app-controlled, solar-powered ocean drone prototype that collects waste on water.

Apart from its waste pickup function, OCDRON, a thesis capstone project by computer science students, is also capable of detecting the water’s pH level and emitting lime powder that helps balance the acidity of the water through neutralization, creating a safer environment for various aquatic life forms.

“Our peers who are tech industry experts were impressed beyond measure that our students were able to produce such a complex apparatus with minimal costs, noting they were still undergraduates. This makes our program an excellent training ground for individuals who are set to take on real-world challenges and we couldn’t be more proud of this game-changing achievement,” said Mitch Andaya, dean of the iAcademy School of Computing.

OCDRON, is a creative, low-cost, and intelligent solution to the alarming problem of water pollution that is damaging the health of aquatic ecosystems, posing harm to humans through toxic and hazardous waste, and the contamination of clean and potable sources of water. The students were able to assemble the apparatus in less than 50 days with a ceiling budget of P25,000 to build a unit.

According to the group, the cost is reduced exponentially as compared to what is being offered in the market for ocean drones with only a single function.

“Similar prototypes already exist in other countries, but our competitive advantage is the additional functions aside from the waste collection, plus the minimal costings we have used to create a timely, efficient, and cutting-edge technology such as this,” the students said.

The group consists of computer science majors specializing in software engineering: Jean Michel Gabrielle Gomez, Allain Vincent Gaspar, Christian Gaspar and Mel Ivan Magsino.

iACademy has opened limited partnership opportunities for interested organizations and entities looking to take part in water cleanup initiatives through the utilization of OCDRON.