STATE COLLEGE, PA, Jan. 16, 2013 -- 526,481 pieces of marine debris weighing over 86 tons, 72 locations in 17 states, 10,529 participants, and KCF Technologies’ Smart Tether was part of it.
In December 2012, the Rozalia Project announced the completion of their Trash Tour 2012 and Smart Tether played a large role in the tour’s success. According to Rozalia Project Co-Founder and Executive Director, Rachael Miller, KCF’s Smart Tether assisted Rozalia Project interns and volunteers in their hunt for trash in many ways.
Miller said that often Rozalia ROV (remotely operated vehicle) pilots were looking for trash in areas with poor visibility and that Smart Tether let them know where they were going and helped keep them out of trouble. Additionally, Smart Tether allowed the Rozalia Project to make marine debris maps showing where and how much area was searched and whether debris was distributed evenly, or was in pockets. Finally, Miller added that Smart Tether is another piece of technology that she could expose to kids, often from STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) programs, that visit trash clean-up operations, stating that she allowed them to co-pilot Rozalia’s ROVs by operating the Smart Tether software.
“It [Smart Tether] gives them [the kids] another opportunity for hands on interaction with technology,” Miller said.
KCF Technologies President Jeremy Frank added, “I am pleased that Smart Tether is an integral part in helping the Rozalia Project to accomplish their mission of cleaning our oceans. This is another good example of how using KCF’s unique tether based positioning technology, to locate, in real time, the position of remotely operated submersibles like the one Rozalia uses to locate, and remove, treacherous underwater debris, can work.”
Along with assisting in trash clean-up from waterways, during their 2012 Trash Tour, the Rozalia Project also furthered the knowledge and understanding of the problem of marine debris from the surface to the sea floor. During the tour the Rozalia Project ranked five cities in terms of their average floating trash density by conducting surface net tows in urban harbors as part of their Urban Waters program.
In 2013, the Rozalia Project is looking to continue with the Urban Waters program, add a guest scientist program on board their ship, the American Promise, and, Mission Atlantic, a daily, interactive web-based program for summer camps, sailing programs, tall ships, and more.
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About KCF Technologies
KCF Technologies is a dynamic technology company that develops and commercializes embedded intelligence solutions for industry and the military. The company vision is to be a leader in the development of federally-funded technologies and bridge the gap to successful commercial products by establishing strategic partnerships.
About the Rozalia Project
The Rozalia Project is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization whose mission is to find and recover marine debris from the surface to the sea floor through action, technology, outreach and research. The organization operates from the record-breaking circumnavigator now research-vessel, American Promise along the New England coast and in the waterways of Vermont.
