By autonomously navigating the water’s surface, Seaswarm proposes a new system for ocean-skimming and oil removal.
Video: Senseable City Lab
Traditional skimmers are attached to large vessels and need to constantly return to the shore for maintenance. Over 800 skimmers were deployed in the Gulf of Mexico during the summer of 2010; however, it is estimated that these skimmers collected only three percent of the surface oil.
http://web.mit.edu/press/2010/seaswarm.html
http://hardware.slashdot.org/story/10/08/28/1846243/MIT-Unveils-Oil-Skimming-Robot-Swarm-Prototype
