If you’re tired of being woken up by the clanking of garbage cans and collection of trash going on outside your home on garbage pick-up days, a project is underway working toward eliminating that issue — as well as automating the garbage collection process.
The Volvo Group has teamed up with Chalmers University of Technology, Mälardalen University in Sweden, Penn State University, and waste recycling company Renova to develop a Robot-based Autonomous Refuse handling system (ROAR), which would employ a robot ( with the help of instructions from a truck’s operating system, can collect refuse bins in a neighborhood) to pick-up and dump garbage cans.
“Within Volvo Group we foresee a future with more automation,” said Per-Lage Götvall, Volvo Group project leader.“This project provides a way to stretch the imagination and test new concepts to shape transport solutions for tomorrow.”
The technology behind the control and coordination for the autonomous system is being worked on at Chalmers University, while the graphics, communication system, and control panel that would be used by the truck driver operating the robots is being developed by students at Penn State.
The universities will continue to work on the robotic garbage systems until June 2016 when they will test it out on a vehicle at Renova waste company.
Story via The Volvo Group.
