15-Mar-18 – A small remote-controlled robot would swim along the Chicago River and scoop trash if a nonprofit group can raise money to build it.

Urban Rivers has started a Kickstarter campaign to raise $5,000. As of early Thursday, $1,585 had been raised.

The robot could be powered up and steered from a browser – by anyone, according to Nick Wesley (left), one of the founders of Urban Rivers. “Anybody could just logon and in a couple of minutes, clean up some bottles from the river and really make an impact,” says Wesley.

Operators, who would earn points, would see the river from a camera mounted on the robot. After scooping trash, the robot would take it to a collection point.

“We really hope that someday this game is just so boring because there’s no more trash left to clean.”

Wesley says volunteers particularly noticed trash on the river last June when Urban Rivers installed a 166-square-foot floating garden on the east side of Goose Island to provide habitat to wildlife and serve as a destination for kayakers. They tried using nets to clean the river but could not keep up with the trash.

Garbage main topic of annual river meeting

Garbage in the river – and how to get rid of it – was discussed at this year’s Chicago River Summit, hosted by the 6,000-member Friends of the Chicago River.

“The Chicago River system may be cleaner than it has been in generations with greater numbers of fish and recreational use booming,” said Margaret Frisbie (right), executive director of Friends of the Chicago River. “But there is still an inordinate amount of garbage in the river which is dangerous to wildlife and repellent to the people who live in and visit Chicago.”

Frisbie says the summit jump-started the conversation about removing garbage from the Chicago River by bringing together experts from across North America. The March 7 event was held at the Chicago headquarters of MillerCoors.