‘Vatoz’ the hero of the seas

Oğul Görgülü, a graduate of Izmir University of Economics (IEU), designed a boat named ‘Vatoz’ (stingray) with three of his friends to clean solid and liquid waste on the sea surface. Vatoz, which can work continuously for 6 hours, collect 100 kilograms of waste, and create its own route with the help of artificial intelligence, will make a significant contribution to marine cleaning. 

Oğul Görgülü, who graduated from IEU Department of Interior Architecture and Environmental Design in 2020, later pursued a master's degree in the field of design studies. During this time, Görgülü founded a company called Vessel X and also wrote a thesis on unmanned marine vehicles. With the participation of artificial intelligence engineer Rıza Serkan Kaskan, shipbuilding engineer Genco Barış Atalay, and software engineer Tuğçe Köseoğlu, who are all graduates of Middle East Technical University, the team expanded to four members.

9 MONTHS OF WORK

The young team, inspired by the goal of sustainable development, set out to create an unmanned surface vehicle (USV) in the catamaran class to clean the sea surface. After about 9 months of comprehensive work, the prototype of the boat named Vatoz was prepared. Weighing 65 kilograms, Vatoz, with its two electric motors and interchangeable nets for different types of waste, can instantly collect solid and liquid waste in the areas it passes through.

COMPLIES WITH INTERNATIONAL STANDARDS

Capable of collecting up to 100 kilograms of waste, Vatoz has been developed to withstand waves up to 5 meters high. Vatoz can work continuously for 6 hours and can determine its own route through artificial intelligence. Vatoz can easily reach areas where large boats cannot enter. Designed in compliance with international standards and requiring no human labor, Vatoz can also analyze the types of collected waste through its front camera.

TIME AND COST ADVANTAGE

Stating that Vatoz can be used especially in marinas and port operations, Oğul Görgülü said, “Many methods are being sought to prevent pollution in the seas and to collect existing waste. The cleanliness of the sea surface is very important for municipalities, marina and port operators. Vatoz offers great advantages to its users in this regard. For example, if you want Vatoz to work in a specific area and clean the region, you give this command to Vatoz through the software we developed. Thanks to artificial intelligence and image processing algorithms, Vatoz, creates its own route and makes the necessary maneuvers to perform this task. It also provides advantages in terms of time and cost. Vatoz has interchangeable nets for different types of waste, at the back. With the help of the existing motors, it collects the waste and accumulates it in these nets at the back, then notifies the user. For now, we have focused on waste on the sea surface, but by further developing its artificial intelligence, Vatoz can also be used for observation, research, and logistics purposes in distant sea distances.”

WE WANT TO EXPAND ABROAD

Expressing their goal of expanding abroad with Vatoz, Oğul Görgülü continued as follows, “We participated in TEKNOFEST held in Istanbul from April 27 to May 1 and won first place in the category of ‘environmental energy technologies’. We were officially accepted into the ‘Global Cleantech Innovation Programme’ (GCIP) in partnership with the United Nations Industrial Development Organization (UNIDO). Being included in this program is an important key, especially for presentations, exhibitions, and meetings with investors abroad. It's a significant step in terms of prestige. We want to reach out to municipalities and companies in Turkey to bring Vatoz stingray to the sea. Of course, our goal is to expand internationally, and our efforts in this regard will continue to increase.”