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Final Project First idea

This is my first idea for final project!

This is a trash box that automatically sort trash. I’m thinking of making a trash box for use at home or at Fablab Kuriyama.

  • WHY…you chose to do this project?

    • As a requirement for taking the Fabacademy at Fablab Kuriyama, the goal of the final project is to find a problem in Kuriyama Town and solve it.
    • Kuriyama Town has a very strict garbage separation policy.There are many types of garbage to be separated,
      • household trash segregation
        • Food Waste
        • Garbage that can be made into charcoal
        • Garbage that cannot be made into charcoal
        • Plastics
        • Cans, bottles and PET bottles
        • Paper
        • Iron, metal, aluminum foil
        • Wooden chopsticks
        • Glass

    You can check this website to find out what type of garbage is covered by this site.

    https://www.town.kuriyama.hokkaido.jp/site/trash/196.html

    Even if it is the same plastic, there are different types of garbage depending on whether it has a mark on it or not.

    If it is marked with this symbol, you can dispose of it in a plastic trash box.

  • HOW…you think you will make your Final Project (what sensors? Output? Etc)

    I’m going to keep working on this project for three years after FabAcademy ends!

    I would like to do image classification of all garbage in Kuriyama Town.

    Due to the time schedule, I am thinking of creating each spiral.

    In the first spiral, I would like to create a machine that recognizes trash with a camera and opens the lid of the target trash box according to the type of trash.

    In the second spiral, I’m planning to make a trash box that uses a camera to recognize trash and a servo motor to dump the trash into the target trash box according to the type of trash.

    In the third spiral I would like to improve the Second Spiral machine and make a machine using servo motors and stepper motors. Also, this mechanism is scalable, as you can put several trash boxes next to each other!

    If there is enough time, I would like to install a meter on each trash box to show the amount of trash.

    Also if time permits, I am thinking of installing other sensors along with camera image recognition. For example, a soil sensor can recognize wet garbage and prevent it from being thrown in the trash.

    I’m considering the following flow.

    ESP32 (self made board): Controlling servo motors and stepper motors

    RaspberryPi & Pi camera: Use for image recognition

    Soil sensor: measuring moisture content

    Servo moter: putting the trash into the trash box

    Stepper moter: putting the trash into the trash box.



updated 3/19 JST – version 1.0.2

  • External Form

    • What and how will you design & fabricate? What material? What processes?

      • The design of the box has not been finalized yet, but it will be processed with a shopbot or, if the shopbot is not available due to the pandemic, with a laser cutter

      • The lids and hinges of the trash box will be made using a 3D printer.

  • Mechanical System

    • Will your project have this? What and how will you design & fabricate?

      • This trash can system is divided into two main parts trash box and sorting machine.

        • Each trash can will have an indicator to check the amount of trash



      • The sorting machine uses a camera to recognize the image of the trash and takes the trash to the target trash box.

      The end-effectors for each of the spirals shown above operate differently, but I would like to implement all of them using servo motors or stepper motors.

  • Electronics

    • What and how will you design & fabricate? What components are do you think you might need (MCU, sensors, output devices, power supply, etc.)?

      • Trash box indicator

        • MCU: ESP-WROOM-32
        • Input: Ultra Sonic Sensor
        • Output: LED

      • Sorting machine

        • MCU: ESP-WROOM-32
        • Input: camera (trhough raspberry pi)
        • Output: Servo moter, Stepper moter

  • End Effector

    • What will it be and how will you design & fabricate? Programming/ What will you ask the MCU to do? What programming language are you thinking of using?

    • programming language

      • Trash box
        • Arduino language (C++)
      • Sorting machine:
        • image recognition: Python
        • moter: Arduino language (C++)
Last update: June 14, 2022