Robotic boats that could perform real-time water quality monitoring, an enzyme that could break down plastic, and drones that could fix solar panels are among the research projects to receive funding in QUT’s 2020 Catapult program.

The Catapult program supports short-term, higher risk research projects that deliver real-world outcomes. This year, eight projects will share in funding of $326,000.

IFE Director, Research Performance, Professor Margot Brereton, said the Catapult program supported interdisciplinary teams led by QUT early and mid-career researchers.

“This is about undertaking transformative discovery research and developing ideas that have potential to create new knowledge that will lead to adopted innovation by our end-user partners in industry and government,” Professor Brereton said.

Dr Sara Couperthwaite received funding for her research project, which is supported by the QUT Centre for Robotics and Centre for the Environment, to develop an autonomous robotic boat that could provide real-time water quality monitoring.

Dr Couperthwaite said a solar-powered robotic boat could automatically analyse water quality in mine pit lakes and help mitigate against overflow risks during extreme weather events.

“Mine pit lakes are typically highly acidic and contain a variety of heavy metals that prevent traditional sampling methods to be used,” Dr Couperthwaite said.

The robotic boat could also detect pollutants in a river system, such as ammonia from fertilizer runoff, and then by doing a series of further water samples could trace it back to the source.

The systems that are integrated on the robotic boat are customisable to the type of water resource being monitored, which will enable data collection opportunities for multiple water sustainability sectors.

Other projects to receive funding in the 2020 Catapult program are:

• Developing high-performance textiles using synthetic biology so that fabric bound with virus proteins could be made into personal protective equipment.
• Addressing the global accumulation of plastic waste by developing an enzyme-based technology that degrades mixed plastics into intermediate products to create new materials.
• A study into digital inclusion and human factors of agricultural technology adoption on Queensland farms.
• Developing a model for investor activism to reduce waste in consumer goods.
• Developing a digital replica of the Redlands Research Station pilot-scale facility to allow the use of real-time data and analytical dynamic models to optimise plant operation and production of hydrogen.
• Study into community-based approaches to devise alternatives for the introduced species buffel grass for grazing cattle.
• Developing an imaging technique that is suitable for drone-based daylight field inspection of solar cells, enabling fast, cost-effective and high-sensitivity fault detection.