Creating a Robotic Garbage Truck with Lego Mindstorm

Includes Source Code

Robotic Garbage Truck

Abstract

For my final project I decided to build a robot garbage truck that can drive by itself on a ?road? and pick up garbage. This garbage truck would also be able to distinguish from trashcans and anything else that might be in its place. This robot is a one-of-its-kind creation that has to my knowledge never been tried before. So I could replicate a real garbage truck as much as possible, I researched how garbage trucks work and how they have changed in the past 85 years of existence. I decided to create an arm unlike any garbage truck so far only because regular garbage truck arms need to be placed in a very small area to be able to lift up the trashcans. In seven days of work I was unable to finish creating my robot. I was only able to completely build the robot and partially program it. I believe that I made tremendous progress in building this robot in the time that I worked on it. This project has taught me so much on how to build a vehicle that replicates something useful for mankind.

Background

Robotic Garbage Truck

Garbage trucks have been around since the early 1920?s and are getting more and more advanced each year. But even now in the 21st century the same basic principle of

how garbage trucks are run has remained the same. They still require 1-2 sanitary engineers to operate a garbage truck, and they still have to take the trash from your home to landfills. Advancements could be made and an event has proven that robotic vehicles can drive on their own.

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) grand challenge is hosted a first of its kind all robotics race through the Mojave Desert from Barstow, California to Las Vegas, Nevada. Two hours before the race the contestants are given the route at which their robots will have to take in order to win the race. Once the race starts human intervention will result in disqualification. The prize for finishing in the fastest time is one million dollars. So far no one has ever finished the race the farthest robot going just over seven miles, but they have made tremendous progress.

Imagine this cutting edge technology incorporated into garbage trucks. This would eliminate the need for humans to transport garbage from your home to a landfill. Garbage companies like Waste Management would save millions of dollars because they wouldn?