Engineers at RMIT University have developed a remote-controlled minibot that can clean up oil spills using a unique filtering system inspired by sea urchins.
Oil spills remain a major global problem, causing severe damage to marine ecosystems, harming wildlife, and costing billions to clean up. The RMIT team’s new invention, called the Electronic Dolphin, offers a safer and more efficient way to tackle spills, especially in sensitive or hard-to-reach environments.
Shaped like a dolphin and about the size of a sneaker, the minibot uses a specially designed filter that repels water while instantly absorbing oil. This allows it to skim the surface of the water and collect oil with remarkable efficiency.
Lead researcher Dr Ataur Rahman, from RMIT’s School of Engineering, said the project demonstrates how small, adaptable robots could transform environmental clean-up operations.
“Oil spills can take a huge environmental and economic toll,” Dr Rahman said. “We wanted to create a system that can be deployed quickly, steered accurately, and used in areas too risky for people to access.”
The team’s long-term goal is to develop larger, dolphin-sized robots that can vacuum oil, return to base to empty their tanks, recharge, and then redeploy automatically until the clean-up is complete.
The current prototype runs for about 15 minutes on a single battery charge, but future versions will be scaled up with larger pumps and oil-storage capacity.
Unlike traditional oil-cleanup materials that rely on harsh chemicals or manual operation, the RMIT filter uses an eco-friendly coating developed by the research team. The coating forms microscopic, sea urchin-like spikes that trap air pockets, making water roll off while oil clings to the surface. This allows the filter to collect oil efficiently without becoming waterlogged and to be reused multiple times.
In controlled tests, the minibot recovered oil at a rate of about two millilitres per minute with more than 95 per cent purity.
PhD researcher Surya Kanta Ghadei, who led much of the materials development, said his personal experiences inspired his work.
“Growing up in India, I saw the impact oil spills can have on marine life, especially turtles,” he said. “That stayed with me. When I began my PhD, I wanted to create something that could help responders act faster and keep wildlife out of danger.”
The team is now working to scale up the technology by expanding the filter area and increasing pump capacity. Field testing and long-term durability trials are planned as the next steps.
Dr Rahman said the researchers are eager to collaborate with industry partners to refine the design and explore commercial applications.
The study, Multifunctional superwetting sea urchin mimetic nanosheet based interface for remote oil–water separation, is published in the journal Small (DOI: 10.1002/smll.202512846).
The research builds on broader materials and environmental engineering work led by Distinguished Professor Madhu Bhaskaran and Professor Sharath Sriram at RMIT, in collaboration with Professor Ramasamy Sakthivel from India’s Academy of Scientific and Innovative Research.
Organisations interested in partnerships can contact RMIT at research.partnerships@rmit.edu.au.
