BeachBuddy - An Intelligent Mobile Robot for Beach Cleaning: Design, Fabrication, and AI-Powered Waste Recognition

Plastic pollution threatens coastal ecosystems, with Malaysia ranking among the top ocean plastic contributors. Traditional beach-cleaning methods—manual labor and tractor-based machines—pose health risks, are labor-intensive, and costly. To address these limitations, this project introduces BeachBuddy, a hybrid mobile robot that automates beach-cleaning tasks using AI-driven object detection and waste collection mechanisms. The robot identifies, classifies, and retrieves various types of trash, including plastic bottles, wrappers, and aluminum cans, improving efficiency and minimizing human exposure to hazardous waste. Performance evaluations confirm its effectiveness across debris sizes and types, with high detection accuracy and structural integrity. BeachBuddy supports several United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), including SDGs 3, 9, 14, and 15. This project presents a scalable, sustainable solution for enhancing coastal environmental management through intelligent robotics.