On June 17th 2021, in a Regional Agency DUNEA and University of Dubrovnik collaboration, a manifestation called "BLUE EVENT" has been held, where three EU projects were presented: MARLESS, BLUEfasma and SeaClear. These three projects are funded through three different programs, and the link is the topic of blue growth - marine environment as driver of sustainable development, focusing on the circular economy and the problem of marine litter, with goals that include innovative environmental solutions in marine litter monitoring, collection and management.

To accelearate the pace of our developments, and to increase the chances of success during testing, our partners from TUM are working on creating digital twins of the test sites. This is especially relevant in the context of the ongoing CoVID-19 pandemic, which makes travelling difficult which lowers the opportunities for actual testing. In collaboration with HPA, they have created a digital twin for one of our test sites in the Port of Hamburg.

The team at TUM - ITR has developed a prototype of the gripper device for SeaClear. This version is decidedly simple for robust operation under harsh conditions and will provide a baseline for comparing its efficiency to upgrades with suction capabilities and other advanced features. In this video a KUKA iiwa robot is used to simulate the motion of the underwater vehicle the skid and gripper will be attached to. The versatility and robustness of the gripper design is shown by collecting various objects of different shapes and material, from stiff but deformed cans to flexible nets or piles of objects.