Inception | 2009 |
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Website | http://www.dustbot.org/ |
Dustbot was a prototype robot that collected garbage from homes and streets. [1] It could be summoned by phone call or SMS, and used GPS 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, in Sweden, in Korea and Japan. Launch was planned in 2009, but the last reference in its webpage dates from 2011. The Dustbot project was funded by the European Commission and it never launched as a commercial product. [2]
Dustbot uses different localisation and uses GPS navigation [3] combined with pre-loaded maps. [4] It uses a gyroscope to keep it upright, and has ultrasonic, infrared and laser sensors to avoid collisions with static and dynamic obstacles. [3]
It is able to monitor pollution through a number of air quality sensors, [4] [5] and can warn if the levels are too high. [6] 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. [7] The distribution of gases is modelled using statistical methods. [8] [9]
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. [10] 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). [11]
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 constructed to evoke human form, but most robots are task-performing machines, designed with an emphasis on stark functionality, rather than expressive aesthetics.
An autonomous robot is a robot that acts without recourse to human control. The first autonomous robots environment were known as Elmer and Elsie, which were constructed in the late 1940s by W. Grey Walter. They were the first robots in history that were programmed to "think" the way biological brains do and meant to have free will. Elmer and Elsie were often labeled as tortoises because of how they were shaped and the manner in which they moved. They were capable of phototaxis which is the movement that occurs in response to light stimulus.
Precision agriculture (PA) is a farming management strategy based on observing, measuring and responding to temporal and spatial variability to improve agricultural production sustainability. It is used in both crop and livestock production. Precision agriculture often employs technologies to automate agricultural operations, improving their diagnosis, decision-making or performing. First conceptual work on PA and practical applications go back in the late 1980s. The goal of precision agriculture research is to define a decision support system (DSS) for whole farm management with the goal of optimizing returns on inputs while preserving resources.
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Robotics is an interdisciplinary branch of electronics and communication, computer science and engineering. Robotics involves the design, construction, operation, and use of robots. The goal of robotics is to design machines that can help and assist humans. Robotics integrates fields of mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, information engineering, mechatronics engineering, electronics, biomedical engineering, computer engineering, control systems engineering, software engineering, mathematics, etc.
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