A State-of-the-Art Review on Garbage Collection and Segregation Robot

One of the major problems faced not only in the developing countries but also in developed countries is regarding the proper collection, segregation and disposal of garbage or solid waste. Poor management of the waste may result in the release of toxic substances into the air, water or soil. Due to the same, the risks of air pollution, water pollution or even soil pollution arise, which may result in a health hazard to not only humans but also to animals and even to plants and trees. At present, the collection and segregation of garbage are carried out by humans, which is not only tedious and time-consuming but also a health hazard to humans as inhaling small particles of waste may lead to asthma, and long-time inhalation may lead to cancer. To avoid these issues, many countries are moving towards the adaptation of robots, making collection and segregation completely automated and efficient. The developed robots are equipped with numerous sensors like ultrasonic and LIDAR proximity sensors to avoid obstacles, Tachometers for identification of velocity or speed, Tactile or Touch Sensor for opening and closing the lid, Force sensors for identification of force required for gripping or holding the waste, Accelerometers for identification of acceleration, gyroscope or inclinometer for identification of orientation about an axis and lastly a camera module for capturing the image or video, which can be further processed for identification of waste and conduction of segregation. All these sensors will be possessed and controlled by processing and controlling units like Raspberry Pi and Arduino. The robots currently available are designed very specifically based on the requirements like terrain such as outdoors and indoors and the location on which they have to operate, such as water body or land. Based on that, the autonomy of the robot is decided like a completely manual robot or maybe a wireless controlled robot or a fully automated robot. Along with that, some robots come with inbuilt Internet of Things (IoT)-based solutions like path planning and path following robot based on the processing of the image and/or video captured by the camera. The waste collecting mechanism depends on the type of the waste as well as on which terrain it is working on, like a water body; if the waste is floating, then an angled conveyor belt-type mechanism will be enough, and if the waste is submerged, then either the robot needs to be submerged or a long robotic arm should be used if the terrain is land. Based on solid waste or semi-solid waste, the end-effector of the robotic arm may be a gripper with a multi-jaw or a multi-axial/faced grippers. This study shows a complete review of the above-mentioned points and can be further used for the conduction of not only the research but also for the development of a complete robot to assist various government or non-governmental bodies in the collection and segregation of waste.