Innovative technology to help protect the marine environment: the mission of the Vero robot

Researchers at the Laboratory of Dynamic Leg Systems at the Politecnico di Genova, Italy, have developed a quadrupedal robot called Vero that intelligently recognizes and cleans up litter from all kinds of terrain, especially cigarette butts. Cigarette butts, which release toxic chemicals and microplastics into the ocean as they decompose, are the second most common form of untreated litter in the world. In tests, Vero successfully picked up 90% of cigarette butts, which is important for the protection of the marine environment!