ORRCA Unmanned Surface Vessel

The ORRCA unmanned surface vessel is a robotic system that can filter out many classes of pollutants from the water. It operates entirely autonomously to remove sediments, heavy metals, plastics, trash, and even oil from the water.

Water pollution is a major problem in our society today. Many communities in developing nations cannot sustain their water needs not because they have no source of water, but because their source of water is too polluted to use. This is no small problem as according to the UN it affect 738 million people around the world.

There is one reason that the cleanup that needs to be happening isn't: funding. It's not that there are no systems to clean these affected areas, it's that the systems that can work on the scale required and simply too expensive for developing countries. ORRCA fixes this as it is the only low cost, large scale solution to this problem. 

It is our goal to bring the ORRCA solution to developing nations to clean their water supplies. It will benefit people of all ages in developing nations and it will be deployed free of cost through nonprofits and NGOs. 

Measure gallons filtered out of each craft. - Filter over 100,000 gallons of polluted water.

Count people with access to the area being treated. - Give 100,000 people access to cleaner water (in the first five years)

ORRCA is unique in that it doesn't really use any new technology, it just uses intelligent design to make it effective and inexpensive. The technology in the craft is standard to most drone platforms but has been re-purposed. The filtration system is made from commercially available parts but they are utilized in a way, different from any other, that allows it to separate almost all classes of pollutants.

ORRCA was always designed for developing countries. It was designed to be affordable for them and we are working to make the solution free of cost for these countries. Its operation was built with them in mind too. ORRCA is one of the simplest crafts to control period. The intuitive software that comes with the craft is simple to operate for anyone. However, the implementation is such that no one from a developing nation must operate/service the craft, that is all done through representatives from nonprofits and NGOs.

The idea is to run this as a nonprofit. Crowdfunding funds the construction of the ORRCA craft, then by partnering with NGOs and Nonprofits we will send the solution to developing nations free of cost. Members of Project ORRCA or members of our partners would oversee operation of the craft and cleanup using them. For small areas, only one craft is needed, for larger cleanups multiple ORRCAs can work together to clean the pollution.

As with most nonprofit organizations (we plan to become nonprofit) financial resources comes from crowdfunding and corporate sponsorship. We have multiple committed sponsors and partners already however most do not provide funding. They do provide some parts and materials but are mostly for mentor-ship. Our plan for funding is monetary sponsorship from corporations and crowdfunding campaigns as well as fundraising events to raise awareness for the issue and collect funds to support it.

One factor that can limit the solution is definitely funding. Without crowdfunding and corporate sponsorship we cannot succeed in providing this solution to nations free of cost. Public support will be another issue. Nonprofits need public support to spread awareness of the issue and aid in promoting the mission. We believe in working with public for not just donations but ideas and for implementation as well. Manufacturing techniques may be an issue as well. We need a way to manufacture ORRCAs faster - we are working on some ideas. 

http://facebook.com/projectorrca

http://rlxamerica.wixsite.com/projectorrca

We are applying to solve because we know that our solution has the potential to aid the world and even save lives. Solve is a community of people determined from positive change and has the resources we need to move our project towards implementation. We have attracted massive positive public support and our solution has been tested to be effective. We want to join the SOLVE community and make the dream of clean water a reality for people around the world.

Rutgers University School of Engineering

Rutgers Formula Racing 

East Brunswick FIRST INC

Oblik Studio

East Brunswick High School Save Club 

Friends of the EBEC

None (N/A)