It's something like the "Swiss Army Knife of water pollution control", say the young French entrepreneurs self-confidently about their "Jellyfishbot", which has been doing the rounds in the Mainz customs port since Tuesday.

At the very least, the robotics start-up founded near Marseille in 2016 hopes that the floating robot, which has so far been doing its work at 40 locations worldwide, should become an internationally recognized top product as soon as possible.

Markus Schug

Correspondent Rhein-Main-Süd.

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By the end of the year, the company wants to ideally have more than doubled the number of cleaning forces working under the IADYS name.

After all, the swimming robots, not dissimilar to a jellyfish, which can both swallow handy flotsam and suck off small oil films, can be used in a variety of ways: not only in marinas or shipyards, but also in leisure parks, in extensive hotel and camping facilities and last but not least in the Research.

Conversion to data collector possible

If necessary, the "Jellyfishbot", which is normally equipped with an 80-liter catch net, can be converted so that it can provide scientists with reliable data on the temperature, salinity, turbidity and bacterial concentrations of a body of water - and from a depth of up to ten meters.

According to Managing Director Detlev Höhne, the main thing in the Mainz Marina is keeping the approximately eight-hectare harbor basin clean.

After all, the cleaning specialist, christened Jean-Pierre, can work up to 1000 square meters within an hour: independently or remotely.

And the all-rounder, which can get into the smallest nooks and crannies and is available in various equipment variants at prices from around 10,000 euros upwards, actually puts everything in the bag that doesn't belong in the water: bottles, cans, plastic packaging and cigarette butts, for example.

But not everything that is swimming around illegally in the marina, which has 140 berths, has been left behind by visitors to the newly created residential area on the Rhine, says Höhne.

Some also come from the nearby major construction sites, which will probably have a say in the image of the port area for a few years to come.

Which makes it clear that the Mainz jellyfish robot, which has a maximum speed of two knots, will not run out of cleaning work anytime soon.