PRE2016 3 Groep17

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Concept: Street-level garbage sorting system

Team members: Ava Swevels, Lisan Wolters, David Elshove, Vansh Kharbanda, Johan Kon & Thomas van de Wiel

How to use this page

In this wiki, a weekly update will be given on the progress of the group. The total Wiki is therefore divided into weekly modules. At the end of the project, the conclusions and results will be given, as well as a discussing of the concept and an evaluation of the group process.



Week 1

Selection of idea

The first idea we had was to make an educational application in which we would make several short lectures for last year secondary school students. With the knowledge they gained, the could then make a working robot from a package of parts. By doing this, we would show the students how fun an engineering education can be, in order to make them seriously consider higher education in a technical institute. However, it proved to be hard to distinguish our idea from the existing "stichting techniekpromotie", which does pretty much the same thing.

We then thought of a a societal problem which really needs to be solved, such that we could think of a solution that could solve it. We came up with the following. Garbage sorting is a huge problem in society. Not sorting your garbage has a serious impact on the environment. Some team members indicated that especially students omit sorting their waste. What if we could solve this problem by making a bin that automatically sorts your waste, once you throw it in? Then we figured that this bin would become rather big because of all the sensors and the actual sorting system, and that most students would not have room for this. Furthermore, it would be an expensive solution for which the target audience probably wouldn't want to pay. But since students are mostly clustered in an area, we could scale up the idea to come across this problem. What if we make a garbage sorting system on street level, similar to already existing underground trash cans ([1]), but in which you can throw all garbage at once if you did not sort it. This way we avoid high costs for the user, while maintaining the benefits for society. This idea got the groups approval and was thus selected for further investigation. The group decided that it wanted to do a study on the possible effects of such a system and to develop a working (scaled down) prototype of the system.

A literature study to similar existing systems is done, as well as a study to the possible societal impact of such a system. Furthermore a presentation is be prepared in order to get green light for the execution of the idea. To visualize the idea and to add convincing power, a 3D CAD-model is made. The model will also serve as a step up towards the prototype and to make sure all team members are talking about the same concept. A discussion will be given below.


Existing alternatives

This section reviews the state of the art and related work relevant to our research. A list of the current knowledge in the field of our research has been made. The used sources are listed below.

There already exist several automatic sorting trash cans, each has their own purpose and implementation. The first sorting bin we will discuss is the Auto-Trash from Jay Donovan. This was a technical craft project to sort between compostable items and recyclable items. They have used a Raspberry Pi module, which was equipped with a camera to detect and recognize each item placed on top of the can’s rotating top. Image recognition was used to distinguish the items, and then the item is sorted appropriately (Donovan, 2016) . Our product differs since it will be implemented on larger scale, namely on the level of the municipalities and not on the level of personal houses. Furthermore, our product will be able to sort the items in more different categories and it will also be able to sort several items at the same time. Therefore the user does not have to adapt to throw his trash one by one into the bin.

The second sorting bin is the R3D3 from the company Green Creative. This is a very small and compact bin which can be placed in public spaces and in work areas. This bin accepts one item at a time, then it detects and recognizes the item and then, after compressing the item, it is sorted appropriately. This bin accepts 3 sort of items, namely cans, disposable cups and plastic bottles. When the bin is almost full, the garbage collector will get an alert to empty the bin (Green Creative, 2017). Our product will have different features than this bin, and therefor will have an added value. Our product will be on a larger scale, as stated before and our bin can also sort other materials. Furthermore our product will also be able to compress the waste and it can also alert the garbage collectors when the storage space is almost full. This way they will never have to make a trip to collect a half-full garbage storage unit, which saves money.

The last sorting bin differs from the first and second one in terms of scale. This bin is developed by Sintef, a Norwegian research team. They have developed a sorting machine for waste on a large scale, namely on factory-level (Sintef). The sorting machines use spectography and infrared light to analyse the materials in a product. Then the items are identified and sorted into various divisions (Sciencenordic). Our sorting machine differs since we won’t implement our machine at this level, but on a lower level, namely in the municipalities. This is more convenient, since a lot of cities already have underground waste container, thus the sorting can take place in these containers. Therefore transport will be reduced, since the waste does not first have to be transported to a factory to sort it, and then transported to the factory where the materials will be recycled.


Evaluation concept with repect to USE

Our automated sorting trash cans will have impact on users, society and enterprise. Not every household will have an own automated sorting trash can. It will only be place on a limited amount of places in the municipalities.

For some of the users of the product it will make sorting easier. Nowadays we have to sort our trash in a lot of different containers. These containers can be replaced by only one container. If the trash bag is full the trash will be thrown into an automated sorting trash can. This will reduced the amount of containers households will have as well as the amount of effort needed. While we do not need to know in which container we need to sort which material. In some municipalities there is a penalty for sorting wrong. If a person has thrown something in the wrong bin, even without noticing. This person can get a penalty(Tilburg). This problem will get solved for the user, while he/she cannot throw trash in a wrong container. “ “It’s really beneficial for individuals to sort their trash at home so it can be recycled. This enables them to contribute to a better environmental utilisation of the resources in the trash,” says Political Advisor Audun Garberg at the Ministry of the Environment. ” (Sciencenordic). This refers to an impact which can happen, but must be avoided as much as possible.

The society will have more assurance that trash is sorted correctly. It is humanly to make a mistake when you try to sort your waste yourself. Besides there are still a lot of people who do not sort their trash. All the thrash which is not sorted now, will be sorted in the future, which is better for the environment while more products can be reused/recycled (Milieucentraal). In the beginning this invention will be an investment for society, but this will later earn itself back. While there is less transport needed. With this automated sorting trash cans not all household will have their own container, but only limited places in the municipalities will have these. This will shorten the route of the garbage trucks. More materials can be reused as well while all trash will be sorted correct. This increases the amount of materials we can reuse instead of producing them again, we can save money as well (Tilburg).

For enterprise this product will change the work for companies which collect the garbage. Garbage containers will not be placed at all houses, but only at one point of the street. There will be sensors included, with which can be measured whether the garbage container must be emptied. This will change the route the garbage men need to take to collect the garbage. It will also change how many times they need to empty some of the garbage containers. This can be checked every day.


Presentation of ideas

The presentation will be given on Thursday 16/02 between 13:45 and 17:30 in the Metaforum building, room MF08.


CAD-mockup

Some pictures of the CAD-mockup can be found under the links below.

Trimetric:[2]

Isometric:[3]

Side 1: [4]

Side 2: [5]

Top: [6]


Bibliography

Donovan, J. (n.d.). Auto-Trash sorts garbage automatically at the TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon. Retrieved February 09, 2017, from https://techcrunch.com/2016/09/13/auto-trash-sorts-garbage-automatically-at-the-techcrunch-disrupt-hackathon/

Green Creative, R3D3 smart and connected sorting bin. (n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2017, from http://www.green-creative.com/en/r3d3-sorting-bin

Sintef. (n.d.). Automatic sorting of waste for recycling. Retrieved February 09, 2017, from https://www.sintef.no/en/projects/automatic-sorting-of-waste-for-recycling-/

Sciencenordic, Machines are better than people at sorting household trash. (n.d.). Retrieved February 09, 2017, from http://sciencenordic.com/machines-are-better-people-sorting-household-trash

Tilburg, controle afvalscheiding, retrieved February 12, 2017 from https://www.tilburg.nl/inwoners/afval/controle-afvalscheiding/

Milieucentraal, afval verwerken, retrieved February 12, 2017 from https://www.milieucentraal.nl/minder-afval/afval-scheiden-en-recyclen/afval-verwerken/



Week 2

The group has decided to switch to researh and the making of a prototype regarding a new barcode scanning technology that could reduce the waiting time at supermarkets and possible replace checkout personnel. We will start by giving an introduction of an alternative technology that could be used to replace barcode scanning, indicating why we think it will not be used the coming years. This is followed by research on the current state-of-the-art. Lastly, the user and enterprise questionnaires that will be used to gather data on this technology are presented. Note that this week the focus was on making and dividing a planning, which explains some delay on content. The planning can be found at [7]

RFID in supermarkets

Barcodes as we know them have been used in supermarkets since 1974 already. [1] In all these years, the technology behind then has not changed significantly. Over the years, lots of new technologies have emerged. So why would it be a good idea to improve this old barcode system instead of revolutionizing the supermarket checkout system? To investigate this, we will look into one of the current technologies which could be used for this purpose: RFID technology. In this article, the general principle of RFID tags is explained. After that, the advantages and disadvantages of RFID technology are listed. Finally a conclusion is drawn regarding future possibilities for barcode and RFID technologies in the supermarket scene.

First of all, what is RFID technology? RFID of Radio-Frequency Identification. It is a general term used for small electronic devices consisting of a small chip and an antenna. The device can carry small amounts of data. [2] The basic working principle is the following. When the RFID-chip detects a field of a scanning antenna (one that asks for information), it gets activated. The RFID-chip then sends its information to the antenna, which now knows all details about the chip that was detected. [3] Examples of fields where RFID technology is currently used are banking and postal services. More and more banks equip their credit cards with RFID technology, in order to enable users to pay small amounts of money with just moving their card near an RFID scanner. [4] Postal delivery companies use them for track and trace of their packages to give customers real-time information on the status of their order. [5] With RFID-chips becoming increasingly cheap (currently one to several cents [6]), the door is opened for many more daily life applications.

A logical extension to this contactless way of tracking items trough small chips, is scanning of products in supermarkets. The main advantage of RFID tags over barcode technology is that using the former enables faster checkout rates. Customers can walk through RFID gates instead of having to put every item on a conveyor belt, having them scanned by a human, putting them in their shopping cart again. It would substantially reduce time needed to shop and would make the overall experience a lot more pleasant. [7] Supermarkets would benefit from this technology in lots of other ways as well. The biggest cause of shrinkage in supermarkets is caused by internal theft. RFID technology would make it possible to pinpoint when and where items disappeared, making it easier to prevent similar events in the future. There are already examples of decreased shrinkage rates in supermarkets using RFID tags. Secondly, theft by customers would be more difficult because of the previously mentioned checkout gates. Another example of the benefits of RFID tags is the possibility to track where in the supermarket the products are located. Have they been put in the shelves yet? How many items are still stocked? What is the expiration date of certain products? This extra knowledge would enable supermarkets to stock, move and sell their products more efficiently, thereby reducing financial losses due to excess stock or spoilage of products. It would also make it possible to automatically send an order to an employee to restock a shelve once this is necessary. Furthermore, automatic orders for restocking the stockroom could be done. [7] Besides faster checkout, customers comfort could be improved by using other features of RFID technology. For example, customers can check whether the product they want to buy is still available at the supermarket, so that he knows whether he needs to go or not. Supermarkets could equip shopping carts with a system that automatically registers anything you put in or take out of your shopping cart and display the price of your items real time (‘smart carts’). Estimated arrival times of out-of-stock products can easily be communicated with customers. Customers could be informed of their optimal shopping route based on their online made shopping list and the information the store has on the location of its products. Additional product information could be given, using RFID tags and smart carts. [7]

The list of advantages this new technology offers is inexhaustible. So why are we not all shopping like this already? First of all there is the price of producing the tags. A price of several cents might not seem much, multiply this number with the amount of products in your weekly shopping cart and ask yourself whether you still think it is not that much. Fact is that a lot of supermarkets are just not able to bear this small added cost without disappointing customers and losing incomes. [8] A second issue is the cost of changing the entire checkout system. Changing to an RFID-based system would require massive changes in supermarket infrastructure, which go hand in hand with high costs. In the ever more competitive market of today, a supermarket simply does not have the possibility to change the entire system without increasing the cost of their products. [8] Thirdly, it is impossible that all manufacturers of products that are in the supermarket change to RFID-technology at the same time. There will be a transition period in which both barcodes and RFID-tags will be used. This would pose big problems for checkout system. Supermarkets would be forced to use conventional barcodes until all products are equipped with RFID-tags. This would create a situation in which the store pays for the RFID-tags, without being able to use them to their fullest extent. [8] Another issue is the current technological state of RFID-tags. Products could be missed at the checkout when multiple signals overlap, since the reader is only able to accept one signal at a time. Also, products in the middle of your shopping cart could be missed at the checkout because the RFID-signal just isn’t strong enough. Smart carts are one way to avoid the last problem, but nonetheless, lots of issues remain. [9]

We have seen many ways in which both customers and supermarkets could benefit from RFID technology: faster checkouts, tracking of stock, reducing theft and spoilage of products, making the overall shopping experience more pleasant. However, there remain some issues that make it just not feasible at the moment to make the transition to RFID technology as a replacement of barcodes. Mentioned issues included the both price of the tags and the cost of changing the entire supermarket infrastructure. Add a costly transition period and current technical issues to that and the conclusion is clear: RFID technology is not (yet) able to revolutionize the shopping experience. The coming years, barcodes are still expected to play a huge role in the checkout line of supermarkets. It is therefore not wasted effort to develop a new scanning system that makes faster checkout possible with the current barcode system. Au contraire: it would overcome huge investment issues by relying on already used principles, while still maintaining one of the biggest advantages of RFID-tags, namely faster checkout. Such technology would be shaped to society, instead of demanding a change of the entire factory-to-customer chain.

[1] Who invented the barcode?, Barcodes, http://www.barcode.ro/tutorials/barcodes/history.html, accessed on 20-02-2017.

[2] What is RFID?, Technovelgy, http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/technology-article.asp, accessed on 20-02-2017.

[3] How RFID works, Technovelgy, http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Technology-Article.asp?ArtNum=2, accessed on 20-02-2017.

[4] Contactless Smart Card, Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contactless_smart_card, accessed on 20-02-2017.

[5] Monitoring mail with RFID technology, IPC, https://www.ipc.be/en/services/data-solutions/rfid, accessed on 20-02-2017.

[6] RFID tags, Alibaba.com, https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/paper-roll-blank-13-56mhz-Mi_60592283328.html, accessed on 20-02-2017.

[7] Grocery industry operations are facing a real paradigm shift, RFID arena, http://www.rfidarena.com/2013/4/11/grocery-industry-operations-are-facing-a-real-paradigm-shift.aspx, accessed on 20-02-2017.

[8] Issues of item-level RFID tagging, Quora, https://www.quora.com/Whats-holding-the-grocery-industry-back-from-doing-item-level-tagging, accessed on 20-02-2017.

[9] Problems with RFID, Technovelgy, http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/Technology-Article.asp?ArtNum=20, accessed on 20-02-2017.

Planning

The project plan containing goals, sub goals and concrete activities with deadlines and a task distribution can be found at the following site: Project Plan. A Gantt Chart has also been included to show the time span of the activities within the project, indicating important milestones (black), interim deadline (yellow) and project deadlines (red).

Literature study

In progress.


User Study

Currently being reviewed by R. Cuijpers.


Enterprise Study

Currently being reviewed by R. Cuijpers.