Final Project¶
For my final project I would like to develop something that can assist precious plastics upcyclers with their mission. So I would like to design and prototype a machine that can assist upcycling labs with one of the most laborious tasks when it comes to preparing plastics which is sorting materials.
Upcycling refuse bin & sorter
The robotic printing and recycling workshop hosted by IAAC and Seoul Innovations Fab Lab as I stated in my introduction truly opened my eyes in so many ways to the possibilities which digital fabrication can make a reality. It also introduced me to the Precious plastics initiative which I think is a truly important initiative which could really do some good in this world. While this was a very state of the art version of upcycling there are much more basic things which we can do to to help educate and reinforce good recycling principles. My target market so to speak for this project is underprivileged and impoverished communities especially in Africa as these are both the most the most in need of education and protection from pollution.
I intend on desiging and fabricating a recycling bin that both educates and inspires the youth to get involved in recycling and also make upcycling an easier process for those who will be using these materials.
I would love to eventually develope an intelegent sorting system that can Identify different types of plastics and sort them for recycling but that can be something I develope in the future. In my experience with these upcycling projects I have noticed that plastic bottle caps are among the most useful materials. So I will focus my project on plastic bottles, bottle caps and labels.
So my idea combines a recycling bin, a sorting machine and an arcade system to encourage kids to recycle they will be awarded one token for each plastic bottle cap they recycle which they can play a small game like flappy bird which can be prgrammed on an arduino.
Research¶
