Ocean Cleanup Robot DAO – Info Session Recap – 03/03/2023

Kambria has successfully organized the Ocean Cleanup Robot DAO (OCRD) - Info Seminar Session on March 3rd, 2023.

Aside from sharing more information about this initiative and our partnership invitations, we would like to take this chance to raise public awareness about ocean cleanup actions through spark sharing between supporters and their own stories. Since protecting the water sources at all costs has motivated Kambria to take action, we would love to contribute to the journey of keeping the environment clean and keeping humans as well as animals safe. We are really thankful for all the people that accompany us on this amazing journey! 

HIGHLIGHTS OF THIS SESSION:

The Session covers 5 main parts: 

1. Kambria Introduction with an overview of Kambria, Kambria DAOs, and the Ocean Cleanup Robot DAO. 
2. Guest Talks with 4 keynote speakers presented 3 topics: 
   1. • Mr. Bryan Auriol - “Our journey for Marine Environmental Protection”
      • Ms. Nhi Ha & San Nguyen (Fox or Com) - “How can we involve or contribute to the journey of protecting the Ocean”
      • Mr. Ryan Febriansyah - “A look at current Ocean Cleanup Robots”
3. Spark sharing “My stories”
4. Q&A section
5. Next milestones

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1️⃣ Kambria Introduction:

Ms. Lien Cao, CEO of Kambria, kicked off the Info Session by sharing the overview of Kambria, Kambria DAOs, and the Ocean Cleanup Robot DAO. 

Kambria DAO is a new way of building community by co-owning, co-developing, and co-commercializing Technology solutions. Kambria is going to launch the 3 first DAOs which are Pet Care Robot DAO (PCRD), Mine Clearing Robot DAO (MCRD), and Ocean Cleanup Robot DAO (OCRD).

In this section, Ms. Lien shared more details about OCRD. Through doing research, the presentation noted key facts that motivate Kambria to take action. 

Ms. Lien highlighted that since there will be more plastic waste in the oceans than fish by 2050, the European Commission considers plastic waste management as one of the 7 areas to achieve a circular economy by 2050. Waste collection is a vital job in keeping the environment clean and keeping humans and animals safe but it is also one of the most dangerous jobs. Therefore, sooner or later it will be replaced by robots and this is where Kambria and our Technology community can contribute.  

The OCRD has four main phases: 

Phase 1: Develop an Ocean Cleanup Robot Solution

Phase 2: Implement the solution

Phase 3: Create community movement with OCRD Gamification

Phase 4: Speed up the work via community 

Potential partnerships that Kambria would like to propose including:

1. Dev Teams, especially the Developers who will propose the solution that they want to build. The proposal needs to include an introduction about the team's background and capabilities, a development plan, demonstration works, and a quotation.  
2. Services Partners, especially people who are already in the chain, or doing ocean cleanup services.
   • For this type of partner, we would love to have them participate in the solution development phase to give out the needs and test the solution.
   • Later on, once the product is finalized, they can help with the implementation of their services to the robot.
3. Fund Contributors, especially people who come together to participate in these technology solutions. Ms. Lien highlighted key financial information about the Global Recycled Ocean Plastics market size in this section, and she shared that it is rapidly growing as a variety of non-profit organizations and government agencies develop and scale up the technology to clean up the oceans of plastic. In addition, she shared about the allocation of DAO Funds and Revenue as per the Kambria DAO model.
4. Community Partners, people who are spreading the good works about DAO solutions. They can join us in publicizing awareness activities such as cross-sharing helpful information and co-organizing community events. They can also serve as DAO Hubs to implement services when the solutions are ready for this stage.

Ms. Lien concluded the presentation by informing the community about the next activities of Ocean Cleanup Robot DAO.

 

***

2️⃣ Guest Talks:

Kambria would love to share highlights of meaningful stories and inspirational journeys from our beloved guests’ sharing:

The first sharing “How can we involve or contribute to the journey of protecting the Ocean” was from Ms. Nhi Ha, a Technical Recruiter as well as a volunteer; and San Nguyen (Com), an eleven-year-old boy representing the young generation.

* Ms. Nhi Ha kicked off the Guest Speaker section by sharing her story from a wildlife conservation volunteer to the journey of protecting the ocean and a few ways that we can join hands to protect the environment.

Regarding her environmental volunteering experiences, she participated in the first Wildlife conservation program in 2019. After the Covid-19 pandemic, Ms. Nhi and her team had the opportunity to join the Sea Turtle Protection at Nui Chua and Hon Cau, Binh Thuan Vietnam. Aside from protecting sea turtles, the “Turtle Protectors” Team took part in other activities such as teaching children in this village and picking up trash in the sea. She stated that although the team collected garbage every day, the amount of garbage did not decrease. Ms. Nhi included images of messy waste and a lot of microplastics in addition to the huge amount of garbage washed ashore. So, after these trips, she did studies on Ocean Waste Polluters and shared some findings from her research on the Highest Ocean Waste Polluters rate.

In the following section of her presentation, she responded to the question "How can we involve or contribute to the journey of protecting the ocean?" by stating six things we can do right away:

1. Let's have been on a trip and leave nothing behind. We will see beautiful places and always want to protect beautiful things.
2. You can get involved in volunteer activities in your community or with organizations in your network.
3. You can educate yourself about environmental protection by acquiring knowledge from books and taking part in related programs.
4. Reduce - Reuse - Recycle. Reduce to limit your use of plastic; Reuse plastic items; recycle plastic materials.
5. Increase public awareness of ocean protection with inspirational actions for people in your network.
6. “Be a smart customer”. If you see someone selling wildlife, do not buy or eat them. Instead, please report them to animal welfare organizations.

 

* Following the sharing of the topic “How can we involve or contribute to the journey of protecting the ocean”, our next Guest was San Nguyen. 

He stated that since the age of four, he had the opportunity to participate in environmental activities such as sea turtle conservation. He and his family went to turtle-laying eggs areas and guarded them all night to ensure that no one stole the eggs. Additionally, while participating in programs related to ocean protection and on family trips to the sea, as an environmentally conscious individual, he picked up trash every day.

San also shared some information that he found while researching the effects of environmental pollution on animals that were on the verge of extinction. He pointed out that 15 species became extinct in 2020, 22 species became extinct in 2021, and 5 species became extinct in 2022. There were 42 species that went extinct in three years with plastic pollution being a major factor.

“Ocean animals are in danger, we cannot let that just flow slide our heads. We have to do something about it each day. Come on, you don't want your next generation to live in a world of trash, right? Do something, a small thing will help!” He concluded this presentation with a heartfelt appeal.

***

The next sharing was from Mr. Bryan Auriol, CEO and Founder of Narasea Indonesia, with the topic “Our journey for Marine Environmental Protection”.

* Mr. Bryan Auriol shared "Our Journey for Marine Environmental" on the following topic. He is working as a Coral Reef and Surve Conservation Partnership Officer with Conservation Indonesia, where he focuses on marine and coastal ecosystem protection. He expressed his desire to have a positive impact on marine conservation and to build a youth movement for sustainable and mental health protection.

His environmental protection journey has lasted for three years, and along the way, he has learned a lot of things including the importance of research and data. We can use the data to develop innovative solutions such as new technologies and methods to address pressing ocean problems for ocean cleanup, and it can serve as an inspiration for all of us to do more.

Furthermore, Mr. Bryan shared that he could also gain knowledge while working. He completed an internship at the NUSA Duari Foundation in June 2019. Their primary objective is to reduce plastic pollution in the ocean and plastic waste is one of the most serious threats to our ocean today. He stated that despite the fact that the team cleaned and collected trash every day, the trash just kept returning.  

The third point from Mr. Bryan’s sharing was about stakeholder engagement. He would continue to work tirelessly with other people who share the same visions to create a more sustainable future for our planet.

The fourth point was the power of the youth movement. Mr. Bryan worked as the National Coordinator of Penjaga Laut at the EcoNusa Foundation in 2021. He successfully mobilized 19,840 Indonesian youth, 140 coastal communities, and 33 provinces to join the national ocean protection movement in support of the Penjaga Laut campaign and marine conservation.

The following sharing was about education. He explained that his team reduced marine pollution through technology, education, and policy changes. They collaborated with governments, businesses, and individuals in order to create a more sustainable future by advocating for policy changes, collaborating with businesses to reduce plastic consumption, and educating people about the consequences of their actions.

Mr. Bryan mentioned the local communities in his last point. Currently, they are working with the local communities to promote marine conservation through sustainable practices. The outreach programs inspire positive changes and encourage people to take action.

To conclude his presentation, he shared that do not be afraid to be different. And together with people who are willing to make a change, let’s take action.

***

The last sharing was from Mr. Ryan Febriansyah, Researcher at Wireless and Emerging Network System Lab and CEO at Roshark Marine, with the topic “A look at current Ocean Cleanup Robots”. 

* In his opening speech, he shared a report on the Top Ocean Plastic Waste Polluters, stating that there could be more plastic benefits in the ocean by 2050; and this is a serious issue that requires immediate attention from everyone. Furthermore, according to recent OceanWise data, only 5% of plastic waste is found on the beach, 1% is floating on the ocean surface, and 94% is already at the bottom of the sea. He continued his presentation on the pollution problem in Bali as an example, and the main issue is a lack of proper waste management and infrastructure, which means that plastic sometimes ends up in the ocean. This not only harms the marine environment but also undermines tourism, which is one of Bali's main industries.

He discussed the most recent solutions. The first step is to prohibit single-use plastics such as straws, plastic bags, and plastic cutlery. Second, we can promote recycling by increasing recycling infrastructure and educating people about the importance of recycling. Third, we can educate the public. Following that, we promote sustainable tourism. Finally, we can help a local initiative that is fighting plastic pollution. He went on to share a few projects they have been working on related to activities such as the Story of Melati and Isabel combatting plastic pollution in Bali and Bye Bye Plastic Bags. He discussed some shortcomings of the current solutions such as how manual processes make marine service difficult, dangerous, and expensive. Additionally, only 5% of plastic pollution is found on beaches, with the remaining 94% already in the ocean.  

“What can we do to make contributions and tackle this plastic pollution?”, he asked. Robots can accompany humans on this journey. He acknowledged that there are many ideas regarding ocean cleanup robots. The ideas are that the robots can be remotely or autonomously operated, can map coastal or harbor debris, and trace identification and data collection, respectively. He provided several current solutions including Bebot, Clearbot, and Antwerp Drone. He also gave some comparisons across the methods. Mr. Ryan shared some of the technical aspects of his team's research which is using machine learning in detecting trace or marine debris. He also provided technical perspectives on the various stages of development.

He outlined his journey from competing and winning awards to establishing the Roshark Marine team in 2019. Mr. Ryan and his team visited 1,000 islands in Indonesia and created an underwater video to promote tourism and raise awareness among the locals that there were many beautiful marine ecosystems nearby.

At the end of his presentation, he stated that while there are existing solutions such as reducing single-use plastic, improving waste management infrastructure, increasing public awareness and education, and developing new materials and technologies, these ones are insufficient to solve the problem of their own. To effectively combat plastic pollution, they must be supplemented with the use of robots.

 

3️⃣ Spark Sharing:

 "Could you please share with us any campaign in Environmental Protection or volunteer projects relevant to the environment that you have participated in?" 

* The topic was started by San’s sharing. Since four years old, San has saved turtles. He came along with his family to places where turtles lay eggs and protected them all night in order to guarantee that no one could take the eggs away. San also joined in a project called coral planting, which supported planting dead corals underwater.

* The next sharing came from Mr. Ryan. As in his previous presentation, he created a video for tourism purposes and to increase local people’s awareness in 1,000 islands. In 2017, he participated in a community service in which he taught the local community the use of drones in exploring nature's spectaculars. Mr. Ryan also shared with Kambria a nice message that robots can be a complementary approach to be coupled with other solutions such as reducing the use of single-use plastic, improving waste management infrastructure, and increasing public awareness and education to solve the problem of plastic pollution. Moreover, the model from the sharing by Mr. Ryan has the ability to detect many types of fish, so it is possible to be used for classifying plastic types.

"If we organize some community activities/campaigns to raise public awareness, which activity do you think we should do?" 

* Mr. Bryan shared that we could create a lot of campaigns on digital platforms to make people aware of the threats from plastic. Besides that, he suggested a meaningful and interesting campaign called power bubble plastic. In that campaign, he made a big monster from the plastic bags that were collected from the oceans or beaches and went around a town or city to show people. The purpose was to let people understand that the big monster was made of trash from humans. Another great suggestion from Mr. Bryan was creating valuable products from plastic. When Kambria or the community organized competitions or activities, we could share those products with people to show the meaningful message that humans could turn plastic into valuable things. Mr. Bryan also organized a fun clean-up activity together with canoeing. From that idea, we could motivate people to join hands in clean-up activities.

* From the sharing of Ms. Nhi, we could organize a competition to build an Ocean Cleanup Robot using used electrical and mechanical devices. This idea was from her land project in the Hon Cau Marine Protected area. Ms. Nhi shared with us a vivid picture of a jellyfish which is mostly made of bottles or a fish made of bottle caps. From that, the idea of building a robot by using used devices appeared. When joining the competition, Ms. Nhi recommended that participants could ask for advice from the global robotics community all over the world, which also helped them to build networks. Furthermore, the competition was a great chance to raise awareness of reusing electrical or mechanical devices before buying new ones.    

“Could you please share your most memorable moments, or share any obstacle that you have faced?” 

* Mr. Ryan’s memorable moment was also one of his motivations to keep working in the field of underwater robots. In 2016, he participated in a competition and started developing an underwater robot for the first time. Although he was a first-year university student with limited knowledge, sources, funds, and time, he got the first prize in that competition.   

* For the past three years, Mr. Bryan has had an amazing journey when he has been working to build volunteer bases and mobilize the public to campaign against plastic pollution with numerous organizations. His first unforgettable moment was in Wakatobi, he met the Indonesia President and received an invitation to an event with his name representing the youth of Indonesia in the plastic waste campaign. Along the journey with great contributions to the Ocean, he shared that the meeting with the First Lady of South Korea was also one of his most amazing moments. Besides unforgettable times, Mr. Bryan also faced some obstacles in working with companies and communicating. For the companies that Mr. Bryan collaborated with, he needed to connect them so that those ones could work together in order to gain bigger attention, and spread meaningful messages and activities to the community. Another obstacle was communication. Because of the difference in the communication styles of the East community and the West community, Mr. Bryan had to learn how to communicate with them effectively.   

"If you have an ocean cleanup robot, how do you want it to help us?"

* Cleaning up the oil spill was the first function that Ms. Nhi hoped the robot could have. A picture that Ms. Nhi took from Can Gio Beach shows how harmful the oil spill is to our ecosystem. Furthermore, she would love the robot to have the ability to dig plastic bags or nets under the sand. Ms. Nhi and her team once dug a huge net and it took them a half day to extricate that net from the sand. Ms. Nhi also shared a meaningful message to the community that together we can make our planet better, and we are responsible for the young generation, so “saving the species, saving our future”.

* With the sharing of San, Kambria also could note key interesting ideas for the Ocean Cleanup Robot regarding the robot can charge itself up using solar panels, and also can detect trash itself. 

***

4️⃣ Kambria also would like to share a small section for Q&A and our next milestones:

* Q&A:

On our journey, we have had amazing opportunities to connect with teams and individuals all around the world; and received nice questions from them. Kambria noted key questions and shared the answers with great support from Ms. Lien.

🔸 The 1st question is “If joining as an individual, will Kambria support forming or finding teammates?"

• Some members decide to join as individuals, but we recommend you find a team because developing a complete robotics solution needs a lot of effort from different roles.
• Kambria supports you to find teammates by introducing other members who are also searching for a team. You can visit their LinkedIn profiles and contact them. We really hope that you could find the right members for your teams soon!

🔸 The 2nd question is “In order to understand the needs of Service Partners and start writing the proposals, can the Dev teams connect with them?”

• As per Kambria DAO model, the development work of the DAO will be reviewed and approved by a Judge Committee of 4 experts to bring different perspectives of Technical, Business, and Industry to the solution. So the Dev Teams can receive advice from these Experts during the development phase. 
• But in the proposal phase, a possible approach we recommend is that you can research current solutions to have an overview understanding. Then you can find teammates who have experiences in R&D similar solutions. Looking forward to receiving your proposals!  

🔸 The 3rd question is “Is there any limit to the proposal?”

• The proposals will be evaluated based on 4 criteria:
  1. Experience and Expertise
  2. Technical Capabilities from Demonstration works
  3. Project Plan and Management, Potential risks
  4. Budget

• As long as you provide truthful information that best demonstrates your qualifications for each criterion, you have the freedom to decide what information to present. Kambria looks forward to your performance!

*** 

5️⃣ Next milestones:

1. For Ocean Cleanup Robot DAO:                  

 Jul 14: Dev Team Proposal Submission.

Jul 28: Online DAO Launch Event: 

       - Dev Teams present Proposals - Q&A from Community and Experts

       - Kickstart the fundraising on XDAO - How to join

 2. Along the way, our other events are coming so close:

For Pet Care Robot DAO:

       - Apr 28: Dev Team Proposal Submission

       - Jun 02: Online DAO Launch Event

For Mine Clearing Robot DAO: 

       - Aug 4: Dev Team Proposal Submission

       - Aug 18: Online DAO Launch Event