“You live on the Singel canal, you walk to the container, put the trash in, it can buffer up to five trash bags, the boat is parked underneath: the container and boat open, five bags fall in the boat, the cycle repeats, then the boat is full,” said Deinema. “Then the autonomy kicks in: a sensor measures the unit is full, it can automatically unlatch itself and take itself to a location where the waste is taken care of.”

Ger Baron, chief technology officer at Amsterdam city council, said that the key that could make this initiative succeed – when attempts to reuse waterways in the last two decades had not – was the small size of the vessels.

“We need legislation to allow boats to be autonomous, but the whole idea that you put in these things and once they are full or at night they empty themselves and float back is interesting.

Some locals, however, said that while innovation is welcome, historic Amsterdam vessels will always be part of the canal experience. Timo Haaker, founder of Starboard Boats, who is also working on a pilot to use houseboats for charging infrastructure, said: “I think it’s very cool that they are working on this technology, of course it’s the future, but I also think that being on a boat in Amsterdam, the whole charismatic part is to cruise it yourself or have a captain. The buildings are old, and I don’t really see robot boats adding to the charm of that: it fits more a city like Rotterdam, which is futuristic, cool and modern. But I’m open minded about it.”