A large, motorized vacuum cleaner designed to remove small plastics from beaches has been tested in Hawaii with the eventual aim of mass-producing a machine to tackle the growing worldwide problem of marine microplastics.

The prototype called Ho‘ola One — designed by a 12-member team of mechanical engineering students and shipped to the islands from eastern Canada — was deployed last week to clean the sand at Kamilo Point on Hawaii island.

The team from the University of Sherbrooke in Quebec is now analyzing the results of its tests but indicated Wednesday that with continual adjustment and alteration the machine — dubbed Ho‘ola One — improved its operating performance each day.

A news conference Wednesday in Honolulu featuring the student innovators was hosted by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

Nine of the 12 students traveled with Ho‘ola One to Hawaii after raising more than $50,000 to design and build the machine.

The Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund, whose volunteers have worked hard to reduce plastic pollution on remote Kamilo Point, raised $15,000 to bring the contraption and most of its designers to Hawaii.

“We’ve always kind of joked about having a marine plastic magnet and this is the closest and most innovative project that I’ve seen,” said Megan Lamson Leatherman, a marine biologist who splits her time between Hawai‘i Wildlife Fund and DLNR’s Division of Aquatic Resources. “So I’ve got a lot of hope for this, and I’m really stoked.”

Kamilo Point, nicknamed “Trash Beach” or “Plastic Beach,” is notorious for its piles of microplastics, courtesy of the currents that tap into the Great Pacific Garbage Patch.

Plastic is the most prevalent type of marine debris found in our oceans, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and it is a threat to aquatic life and birds that mistake it for food.