Robots cleaning water at Port of Los Angeles; tons of trash to be removed over next several months

LOS ANGELES (KABC) -- Dozens of robots are out at the Port of Los Angeles in an effort to keep the region's waterways clean, and they're expected to remove tons of trash over the next several months.

Clean Earth Rovers' semi-autonomous robots work like vacuum cleaners on the water, canvassing marinas and ports. They're navigated via remote control or follow pre-planned paths.

"These waterways are really dynamic so if you take too long or you move too slow, sometimes you may have seen trash in one spot but by the time you get there it's already moved to another location," said Michael Arens, co-founder of Clean Earth Rovers.

The rovers skim the water's surface as they collect trash. Each one can pick up to 200 pounds of trash, which is then thrown away in local trash cans and dumpsters. In the last three months, they've collected over a ton of trash from the port.

Arens encourages everyone to become mindful of the trash they throw away.

"Really think about what throwing something away means," he said. "It might be away for you, but the item still exists and it's going to end up somewhere."

Clean Earth Rovers also collects data and records it to keep track of the progress it's making.

The cleaning robots will be at the port twice a week, and they are expected to pick up five tons of trash over the next nine months.