The Garbage Sea Sweeper

Luiza
Age 10
Saskatoon, Canada

Disguised as a marine creature, this machine swims around the ocean gobbling up harmful waste to remove it from the ocean without disturbing other sea dwellers. Ingenious!

Image
The Garbage Sea Sweeper animated drawing

Keep scrolling to see the story of this amazing invention!

Video URL
The Inventor
Luiza
Saskatoon, Canada
The Maker
Twyla Exner
Artist
Prince George, Canada

Invention Story

The Idea!

The net is inside the sea sweeper so you can't see it in the outside. The teeth crush the plastic for more room. It moves with its tail. It has cameras in its fins.

Luiza has been putting her inventor's log to good use telling us more about her idea and what she has found out through the challenge. We love this drawing of her enjoying the ocean from a boat!

The Maker said...

Initial Sketch

I made a sketch based on Luiza's drawing and thinking about how I would build the Garbage Sea Sweeper. In this drawing you ...

Read more
The Maker said...

3D print tests

I thought it would be good to start off the Garbage Sea Sweeper using a skeleton as an interior structure (armature). I ...

Read more

We love this comic that Luiza has created of her Little Inventors experience!

The Maker said...

3D print choice

I decided to use the articulating fish skeleton as the skeleton for the Garbage Sea Sweeper. I didn't make the model for ...

Read more
The Maker said...

Modify the 3D Print

For my purposes, the 3D print needed to be modified. I removed the ridge around the eye using a dremel tool with a ...

Read more
The Maker said...

Sketch Again

I finally got to meet Luiza on Zoom! Luiza lives in Saskatoon, SK and I live in Prince George, BC (but I am originally from ...

Read more

On a video call maker Twyla showed Luiza the initial work that had been done on the model of the Garbage Sea Sweeper and discussed how the rest would come together, getting Luiza's feedback on the final look and feel.

The Maker said...

Eyes & Teeth

After my meeting with Luiza, I learned that the Garbage Sea Sweeper has metal teeth! I adjusted by painting the teeth copper ...

Read more
The Maker said...

Attachments

I needed to permanently fix the two tail segments together and to create a tie down for the Garbage Sea Sweeper's net. I created ...

Read more
The Maker said...

Painting Time!

I prepared the Garbage Sea Sweeper for painting by covering its eyes and teeth with tape. I hung the sharky-fish with a wire ...

Read more
The Maker said...

Tape Peelin' & Touch Ups

I very carefully peeled off the tape covering the Garbage Sea Sweeper's eyes and teeth. I used a knife to cut ...

Read more
The Maker said...

Sharky-Fish

The Garbage Sea Sweeper's body is ready to go! Now all it needs is a net. Within this work, I tried to capture how Luiza's ...

Read more
The Maker said...

Net Time!

Initially I was going to create an entirely woven net, but I thought it might be interesting to incorporate some of the plastic ...

Read more
The Maker said...

Garbage Sea Sweeper!

I wove the net of the Garbage Sea Sweeper using metal wire as well as nubs from the bottom of a plastic pop bottle. I ...

Read more

Luiza has started to think about what to invent next and we can't wait to see what this ingenious inventor comes up with next. Well done Luiza!

See the next invention

or
Get Inventing