2
Index
Introduction
Method
Coding Guide
Results
Discussion
Limitations and Errors
Recommendation for the Future
Conclusion
Acknowledgements
References
Journal
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Introduction
Pollution is one of the world most difficult problem to date and one of
the hardest to overcome. It has caused major problems such as sea
pollution leading to endangering species living in the ocean as well as
health problems in communities and the environment. Pollution also
leads to climate change which endangers humans living on earth. The
reason this project was undertaken was to develop a possible solution
to try and eradicate pollution in communities and recycle plastic
which is one of the main elements of pollution.
Research was done to determine a robotic invention that could help
with the above situation. Based on the data collected from survey’s, a
recycling robot idea was proposed, and attempts were made to
construct a mock model which has much potential and given the
correct resources and coding, can be a very valuable resource to the
community and the world at large.
The recycling robot is a mock project made up of a series of
components (camera, laser sensor, Arduino board…etc.), which
detects when an item is thrown in the receiving tray and gives a
reward to the individual as an incentive for helping to contribute to a
cleaner community and a sustainable future by recycling. The project
also can detect the type of plastic that is given and can place the
plastic in the correct garage bin according to the type of plastic it is.
Such a project requires careful planning and execution, however there
are a few restraints that need to be taken into consideration to ensure
the project is safe, effective and sustainable.
AIM:
To investigate recycling robot that gives sweets as a reward when
plastics are put into the bin is an interesting idea to encourage people
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to recycle. Such a robot could be programmed to detect and sort
plastics and could dispense sweets or other rewards as an incentive for
people to recycle. There are some important considerations that
should be taken into account before implementing such a system.
Hypothesis:
Having a recycling robot with an incentive will encourage young
students to keep their school facilities clean.
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Method
Building a recycling robot required several components that needed to
be integrated in a particular sequence to ensure the robot is as efficient
and accurate as possible.
Components required for the recycling robot:
Power supply (Solar Energy).
Wire cables.
Raspberry Pi Arduino board.
3D printed housing digital unit.
3D printed sweet dispenser.
Camera.
Laser sensor.
Toggle switch.
Color coordinated Garbage Bins.
Receiving Tray.
Stationery Rotating robot Arm.
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A series of steps was required to create the recycling
robot, they are as follows:
Step 1:
Gather materials: Collect all the required materials, including a power
supply, wires, Arduino board, plastic/cardboard to build the housing
digital unit, plastic/cardboard to build the sweet dispenser, camera,
laser sensor, and toggle switch.
Step 2:
Design the robot: Create a detailed plan for the robot's design,
including its size, shape, and components. Sketch out a diagram or
blueprint of the robot to guide the assembly process.
Step 3:
Build the housing unit: U, create a 3D print housing unit for the
digital components of the robot, including the Arduino board, camera,
and laser sensor. The housing unit should be sturdy and well-
ventilated to prevent overheating.
Step 4:
Install the Arduino board: Mount the Arduino board inside the
housing unit and connect it to the power supply and other
components using wire cables.
Step 5:
Add the camera: Install the camera inside the housing unit and
connect it to the Arduino board. The camera will be used to detect and
identify the type of plastic that is being recycled.
Step 6:
Install the laser sensor: Mount the laser sensor outside the housing
unit, facing the receiving tray that will be able to detect when a piece
of plastic has been deposited into the bin.
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Step 7:
Place Robot Arm: The Robotic Arm will be strategically placed in the
middle to be able to pick up the garbage on the receiving tray, rotate
and dispense in the correct garbage bin based on the information
received from the camera.
Step 8:
Build the sweet dispenser: Using 3D printed components (showed on
diagram), create a sweet dispenser that is attached to the housing unit.
The dispenser should be designed to dispense sweets or other rewards
when triggered by the Arduino board.
Step 9:
Connect the toggle switch: Install the toggle switch on the exterior of
the housing unit to allow users to turn the robot on and off.
Step 10:
Test the robot: Once the robot is assembled, test it to ensure that all
the components are working properly. Try depositing different types
of plastic into the bin to see if the camera and laser sensor are
detecting them correctly, and check that the sweet dispenser is
dispensing rewards as intended.
Step 11:
Refine the design: Make any necessary adjustments or improvements
to the robot's design, based on the testing results.
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Coding Guide
Coding is an important factor associated with building the recycling
robot as it plays an important role in integrating each component used
in the robot and allows for customized instructions between the
components. It also allows for more efficiency and better processing
time as efficient coding allows for a system fluent transition from one
action in the robot to another.
Here are some coding instructions for some of the components.
Laser
If ( laserdetect = true ) {
GiveReward(True) ;
}
Else {
GiveReward(False)
}
Sweet Despenser
Public class giveReward (true)
sweetDespenser = true ;
MoveArm = left ;
MoveArm = right ;
MoveArm = drop ;
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Camera
If (cameraDetect = true ) [
If ( plastic = PET ) {
Dispose(PET);
}
Else if ( plastic = HDPE ) {
Dispose(HDPE)
}
Else if ( plastic = LDPE ) {
Dispose(LDPE);
}
Else{
CameraDetect = false ;
}
Toggle switch
If (power = true) {
Obj circuit = toggleswitchOn
Else
toggleswitchOff
}
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Results
The robot was built with the idea to help our community and help to
lessen - if not eradicate pollution to ensure a healthier and cleaner
environment. After the completion of our recycling robot, many tests
were carried out to ensure it worked efficiently and effectively. The
robot was able to identify when a garbage was placed on the receiving
tray, successfully identify the type of plastic, dispose of the garbage in
the correct bins and dispense a sweet to the person who place the
garbage on the receiving tray.
The robotic project was a success as it was placed in a high school
playground and many children used the robot to dispose of their water
bottles, lunch bags and chip/ chocolate wrappers instead of throwing
it on the school grounds. The children were pleased that they received
sweets as an incentive for disposing of their waste, that they even
went around looking for more waste to dispose of. This led to them
cleaning up the entire school grounds. It also resulting in higher
morale in the students participating and even led to a cleaner healthier
schooling environment.
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Discussion
In order to attain a successful drop in the correct bin, many
customized attempts of coding needed to be done in order to identify
the type of plastic that was placed in the recycling tray. The laser and
camera had to work hand in hand to ensure that the correct plastic was
identified. Another challenge was to restrict the robot from dispensing
sweets in the event a person placed a garbage that was not plastic.
This was difficult as we had to include high quality laser sensors and
high-tech cameras with specialized and customized lenses that only
identified variations of plastic, this was an expensive part to building
the robot and can make the robot a risk factor to crime especially
given the cost of the parts, hence making the project unaffordable and
high risk.
The robot arm used to move the plastic placed on the recycling tray to
the correct garbage bin was subject to overheating and lagging when
faced with high volume of consecutive users, this led to fewer people
using the robot due to limitations in school break times. Fascination
with the recycling robot also posed as distracting to learners as this
led to students queuing to use the robot.
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Limitations and Errors
Safety
It is important to ensure that the robot is safe to use and does not pose
any risk to users. The robot had to be designed in such a way that it
cannot harm users, by choosing components that were from verified
and accredited companies which was challenging as South Africa has
a limited number of suppliers. Also, safety protocols and clear
instructions were issued to ensure maximum safety when using the
robot.
Ecological factors
The reward system had to be carefully designed to ensure that it is
effective in encouraging people to recycle. Sweets or other small
rewards may be effective in the short term but may not be sustainable
nor in the long term. It may be necessary to offer more substantial
rewards, such as discounts or vouchers, to encourage people to
recycle consistently over time.
Durability
The robotic had to be designed with a hard exterior to protect all
components inside and a high build quality that are long lasting and
survive in all kinds of environments.
Malfunction and Maintenance
The robot needed to accurately detect and sort plastics. This was a
challenging task, as there are many different types of plastics, and
some are more difficult to identify than others. Given a plastic that it
cannot identify could result in the robot malfunctioning.
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When robots don’t have regular preventative maintenance
checks performed, it can cause parts and components to break
down or malfunction. Should you fail to provide regular
preventative maintenance, you may experience issues, such as:
Position deviation: The robot functions outside of its
intended perimeters.
Repeatability issues: The robot is unable to perform
consistent, repetitive movements.
Cable damage: Wear and tear on power and data
transmitting cords, wires, and cables can cause electrical
fires.
Loss of programs: Controls software breaks down and
important information and data is lost.
Safety issues: The robot behaves unpredictably, resulting in
a risk of injury for your staff.
Should any of these issues occur, a decrease in productivity
levels can occur and the robot may even be forced to completely
shut down production.
Cost
The cost factor associated with the components used to make the
robot impact the economic sustainability of it. Replacing parts can be
expensive and may take time as funds needs to be readily available.
Recommendation for future
Research
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The recycling robot was a successful initiative that was rewarding for
both the user and the environment. However, the robot can be
improved in the future by considering the following:
The robot can be customized with more up to date components
and additional components to assist the existing ones such as a
customized material detector to determine if the object placed on
the recycling tray is plastic or another material.
The robot arm can be made with better exterior material to
ensure durability in different conditions and a faster motor that
will be able to handle a large volume of users.
Better ventilation on the Arduino board to prevent overheating
and lagging.
The robot can be advanced to sort any type of material such as
plastic, cardboard and metals.
There is much room for improvements however cost factor and
sustainability must be prioritized.
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Conclusion
The main idea of this project was to create a recycling robot that was
able to identify the type of plastic on the receiving tray and sort it
according to the type of plastic it is, with the assistance from
components such as a camera and laser detector and then to dispense a
sweet as a reward to the user for the initiative. The project was built
with the aim to help the environment and to create a sustainable
future. Based on the limitations and constraints, the building of the
project deemed costly and high risk due to the components being
expensive, also not durable enough to operate in certain conditions
such as direct sunlight and not able to deal with high volume of users.
The overall project was a good attempt to helping the environment
however a more inexpensive approach should be taken in the future.
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Acknowledgements
Many thanks are in order to Eskom for initiating such a project to allow
students from all over the country to partake in creating innovative ideas,
prototypes and working projects. This is great exposure to allow students
to be creative and bring to life ideas that may seem unrealistic and
farfetched.
Special thanks to family members namely Nabeela Pandor, Sabeeha
Motala and No’maan Ebrahim who are inspiring Computer Science and
Biology degree holders, who helped to source out components and develop
code to customize the Arduino Board and integrate the different
components.
Orient Islamic School played an important role in the whole process of
creating this project, especially Ms. S Naby for her ultimate support and
wisdom. Orient also allowed for the use of their unlimited resources and
facilities, such as their playground to test the recycling robot. The success
of this project is a combined effort of the above-mentioned parties.
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References
https://howtorobot.com/expert-insight/recycling-robots/
https://waste4change.com/blog/7-types-plastic-need-know/
https://firma-pro.com/en/laser-and-optical-devices/laser-beam-
detectors
https://tontoton.com/drowning-in-plastic/
https://prezi.com/fnoky4fraw_q/prototype-for-recycling-robot
