Students develop smart dustbin for contactless waste disposal

A team of students at Lovely Professional University developed a contactless dustbin for healthcare services called “Ally”. The motivation to develop this device was the create specialized equipment to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic, especially in healthcare services, to keep the workers safe from exposure to the virus.

“At times such as the present, there is a pressing need for frontline workers to work in a safer environment, and Ally is a smart contactless dustbin in that sense,” the student added.

The device they’ve developed, with assistance from their professors, follows voice commands and opens its lid automatically. It is equipped with a sensor that determines the level of waste inside and has the ability to move autonomously within a defined path so, when it is full, it can move to the disposal center to dispose of the waste.

The team has developed a functional prototype that weighs 5 kgs and is 3 feet (1 meter) tall and 1.5 feet (0,5 meters) wide. To make the device, the team used a Raspberry Pi microcomputer and a Atmega 2560 microcontroller.

“In the current situation, we believe that a smart dustbin can play a crucial role in collecting waste and leftovers, especially from sensitive areas. Quarantined rooms for instance, where appointing a human worker for waste collection and disposal may expose them to a deadly infection.” Explained Dr. Gupta, one of the professor that assisted the team in the development process.

Adapted from: https://special.ndtv.com/coronavirus-61/news-detail/fighting-covid-19-me...
https://www.edexlive.com/campus/2020/apr/10/amid-covid-19-lpu-students-d...