Bali has long struggled with serious waste problems, especially plastic pollution that contaminates its beaches and seas. This issue not only threatens marine ecosystems but also undermines the island’s tourism appeal—its main economic backbone. Amid these challenges, a new solution has emerged: an eco-friendly technology called Bebot, a beach-cleaning robot now being tested on the island.
Bebot is a semi-autonomous robot designed to collect waste from sandy beach areas. The technology was developed by 4ocean, a U.S.-based company dedicated to tackling marine debris. In Bali, one Australian-owned resort has become the first to operate the robot regularly.
How Bebot Works
Bebot is controlled via remote with a range of up to 300 meters. It can clean up to 3,000 square meters of beach per hour without producing noise, as it runs on electricity. This makes it far more efficient than manual labor, particularly when dealing with small and hard-to-collect items such as cigarette butts, plastic fragments, and glass shards.
Environmentally friendly by design, Bebot does not use fossil fuels and is engineered to avoid damaging beach ecosystems. Its special wheels allow it to move across sand without digging too deep, ensuring the habitats of small coastal organisms remain undisturbed.
One site already using Bebot is FINNS Beach Club in Canggu. Each day, the robot operates for around 2.5 hours along Berawa and Perancak beaches. The impact has been significant—the volume of waste sent to landfills has dropped from 80% to just 20%. Looking ahead, Bali aims to reduce that figure to only 5% by the end of 2025.
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Positive Response and Future Plans
Alit Sucipta, Deputy of Badung Regency, expressed hope that the technology can be further developed to handle larger capacities and eventually be deployed across coastal villages.
“This robot can be used, but with an even larger capacity, so we can provide it to each traditional village along the coast,” Alit said.
While Bebot has received positive feedback, challenges remain. The high upfront investment cost for each unit makes it difficult for small businesses to afford. Nevertheless, resort managers hope this technology will serve as an example, encouraging more hotels and tourist destinations in Bali to adopt similar innovations. (Wage Erlangga)
