Dustbot was a prototype

robot A robot is a machine—especially one programmable by a computer—capable of carrying out a complex series of actions automatically. A robot can be guided by an external control device, or the control may be embedded within. Robots may be c ...

that collected garbage from homes and streets. It could be summoned by phone call or

SMS Short Message/Messaging Service, commonly abbreviated as SMS, is a text messaging service component of most telephone, Internet and mobile device systems. It uses standardized communication protocols that let mobile devices exchange short text ...

, and used

GPS The Global Positioning System (GPS), originally Navstar GPS, is a Radionavigation-satellite service, satellite-based radionavigation system owned by the United States government and operated by the United States Space Force. It is one of t ...

to automatically make its way to the customer, collect the rubbish, and take it to a dustbin. In addition, the Dustbots carried environmental sensors to monitor the pollution levels over, for example, a pedestrian area. Prototypes were tested in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, in

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

, in

Korea Korea ( ko, 한국, or , ) is a peninsular region in East Asia. Since 1945, it has been divided at or near the 38th parallel, with North Korea (Democratic People's Republic of Korea) comprising its northern half and South Korea (Republic o ...

and

Japan Japan ( ja, 日本, or , and formally , ''Nihonkoku'') is an island country in East Asia. It is situated in the northwest Pacific Ocean, and is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan, while extending from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north ...

. Launch was planned in 2009, but the last reference in its webpage dates from 2011. The Dustbot project was funded by the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body o ...

and it never launched as a commercial product.

Technical

Dustbot uses different localisation and uses

navigation combined with pre-loaded maps. It uses a

gyroscope A gyroscope (from Ancient Greek γῦρος ''gŷros'', "round" and σκοπέω ''skopéō'', "to look") is a device used for measuring or maintaining orientation and angular velocity. It is a spinning wheel or disc in which the axis of rota ...

to keep it upright, and has ultrasonic, infrared and laser sensors to avoid collisions with static and dynamic obstacles. It is able to monitor

pollution Pollution is the introduction of contaminants into the natural environment that cause adverse change. Pollution can take the form of any substance (solid, liquid, or gas) or energy (such as radioactivity, heat, sound, or light). Pollutants, the ...

through a number of air quality sensors, and can warn if the levels are too high. This is especially important in the case of gases that humans cannot sense or when long-term exposure to slightly increased concentrations needs to be verified. The distribution of gases is modelled using statistical methods. Two DustCart robots were deployed in the village of Peccioli, Tuscany, from June 15, 2010, to August 7, 2010, providing "door to door separate waste collection on demand". The system was found to be easy to use, providing satisfactory service and increasing recycling. Its main weaknesses were "slow service/traffic problems (and) low bin capacity", and also the existence of "barriers to entry", according to a report by Nicola Canelli presented during ICT 2010 Conference Session, held in Bruxelles, September 27, 2010. As of November 10, 2017, the project seems to have been ended; still, the Dustbot homepage is online to this day, the last "news" update being apparently done in 2011. There is also a reference to the project in a presentation by Paolo Dario at the International Workshop on Autonomics and Legal Implications (Berlin, November 2, 2012).

References

External links

Dustbot Homepage

A picture of Dustbot

A video of the Dustbot

The Robot DustCart (March 2011)
{{Home appliance brands Home appliance brands 2009 robots Robotic vacuum cleaners

Technical

See also

References

External links