February 2012
The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre took its waterfront location one step further last week, bringing 60,000 litres of water indoors for the Pacific International Maritime Exposition, Pacific2012.
A highlight display at the exhibition was a 6m-diameter tank of water which was used to showcase new technology before its entire contents were recycled for agricultural use.
The tank allowed exhibitors to demonstrate the latest developments in unmanned systems, including the CSIRO’s award-winning robotic submarine Starbug, one of the world’s first autonomous underwater vehicles to use vision as its primary navigation tool.
A series of cameras in the water and overhead provided live feeds to a large viewing screen, giving attendees a fish-eye view of the underwater action.
Supplied by Maritime Australia, the tank took more than a day and a half to fill and remained in place until after the exhibition’s conclusion on Friday. The Sydney Convention and Exhibition Centre then recovered the tank’s water for use in agricultural irrigation and soil treatment, saving the equivalent of 400 bathtubs of water.
The Centre has co-funded the water’s collection and transport as part of its award-winning Ecowise program which allows conference and exhibition organisers to reduce the environmental impact of their events.
The biennial Pacific2012 exhibition, from January 31 to February 3, was hosted by Maritime Australia and is a commercial maritime and naval defence expo for the Asia-Pacific region, supported by the Australian Government and Royal Australian Navy.