Recleaner Aquabot

Inspiration

Most lakes in our country are extremely contaminated as a result of excessive garbage disposal, which has a significant influence on the environment as well as the health of the citizens. Many seasonal initiatives aimed at cleaning the lake are arranged to address this issue, but the problem has yet to be resolved. Due to severe rain, numerous rivers around the country have flooded, worsening the issue because innumerable wastes are floating on our route to work or school, so we decided to construct a robot to provide a more efficient and sustainable solution.

What it does

Our project’s objective is to construct robots that clean the lake by collecting trash and purifying it. Because sorting the gathered materials can be dangerous to human health, the robots we are developing will learn to detect various types of rubbish inside the lake and its surrounding areas and categorize them as non-recyclable, plastic, paper, batteries, metals, and so on with the help of artificial intelligence. We will sell the collected waste to each recycling company or other facility to fund the development of our robots and increase the number of them. Furthermore, each robot would have a chloramine tank that will purify the water. Overall, our Recleaner Aquabot project offers an innovative and automated solution that can perfectly solve the problem by creating a healthier environment for everyone.

How we built it

Currently, we only built the scaled-down 3D model of the Aquabot by using Blender, which helped us visualize the robot's overall structure along with its components. The physical construction of the robot has not started yet but we have planned the main structure and identified the lists of required components along with their functions. To build up the robot we are planning to use various components, including Atmega328, lights, DC pump, resistors, capacitors, cables, diodes, LED, transformers, push buttons, switches, tanks, wire mesh net, and sensors. Our next step is to implement the robot’s functions using Python programming language due to our familiarity with the language. The code will be written to control the robot’s movement, object detection, and sorting out which would be performed with the combination of chosen components while also using libraries and frameworks.

Challenges we ran into

Lack of experience as none of us had previous experience in building a robot therefore we had to research numerous similar robotics in order to identify the components and to gain knowledge. Lack of resources and budget required for building the robot as most parts required for building up the Aquabot are expensive thus we never had the opportunity to purchase components of the robot, which was further restricted by a lack of resources in our home country. Due to the lack of time, we were unable to build a fully functional and evaluate the functionality of the robot as only a scaled-down model has been made. Understanding concepts such as object detection or code necessary for the robot's tasks was difficult due to a lack of understanding, but to solve this issue, we did our best to learn as much as possible about the coding process, dedicating our time to this.

Accomplishments that we're proud of

We successfully developed the robot's scaled-down 3D model, as well as its general style and structure. We conducted a significant study on lake-cleaning robots while carrying out this process, which assisted us in identifying essential components for the robot with careful consideration of their specific functions and compatibility. We also discovered essential libraries, including object detection and sorting out, and learned about the commands included in each program during our research.

What we learned

Throughout the project, we gained valuable knowledge and skills including the structure of robotics, classification of wastes, and Python programming. We were able to understand common components used for the assembly of lake-cleaning robots along with their functions and approach for certain tasks while also gaining knowledge about the algorithms of the robot with the help of libraries. Furthermore, we enhanced our soft skills such as communication, research, and teamwork.

What's next for Recleaner Aquabot

We are planning to build up the physical draft version of the 3D model by using our lists of required components. Once the robot is assembled, we will conduct thorough testing to evaluate its effectiveness as well as functionality including diving, collecting, sorting out, and identifying. Based on the evaluation results, we will start planning further development or any necessary adjustments to the model which will also be tested out. We will continuously test, refine and try to improve our robot’s capabilities which may include software or hardware upgrades, further research, or development regarding the codes. Once we perfected the performance of the robot we will be looking for collaboration with environmental organizations to solve the identified problem, which may also provide us with the chance to get input from end-users to further expand our robot's capabilities.