Knoxville City Hall Plaza — Knoxville Landmark Weather Backdrop
A remote-controlled pontoon with a hole cut through its middle is now doing a job that was previously too dangerous for people to tackle by hand: pulling litter out from where it piles up against Tennessee River dams. Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful and Yamaha Rightwaters debuted the device, called River ROVer, as a way to finally reach trash that collects in spots crews couldn’t safely access before.
The technology, created with support from the Tennessee Valley Authority, uses a remotely operated vehicle to skim litter right off the water’s surface, according to WATE 6 On Your Side. The outlet reports the device lets Keep the Tennessee River Beautiful collect litter that builds up at dams safely and efficiently, and describes it as the first of its kind in the world, with Yamaha having given the nonprofit the trademark on the design…