Autonomous Recycling bin

Description

The Autonomous Recycling bin will be a recycling bin that can determine whether the item placed in it is plastic, aluminum, or paper. After determining what type of object has been placed in it, the bin will automatically sort it into one of the three categories.

Introduction

My name is Brandon Elmore and I’m a sophomore at Delaware State University. This blog will document my journey with my team to create an autonomous recycling bin.

Bill Of Materials

Stepper Motors
Trash Cans (x3)
Camera
Wifi Dongle
Fill Sensor
Zipties
Rasberry PI
Audrino
Servos

Weekly Update 02/16/2020:

Over the course of this week my group has prototyped the design and we now have a plan of attack to solve the problem of recycling.

Weekly Update 02/23/2020:

Over the course of this week my group has came up with new designs and started to get the needed materials to make this project a reality. We have also changed to only recycle bottles. We just need to wait for the materials to come in.

Weekly Update 03/01/2020

Over the course of this week our group has started to discuss whether we should use google vision or tensor flow to determine what kind of recyclable has been placed into the recycling bin.

Weekly Update 04/01/2020

Due to corona virus concerns the university has shutdown and the project has been changed to working on tinkercad for the rest of the semester. Below are some of the creations throughout the class.

TinkerCad Project 1

This is an RGB circuit that lights up from right to left then resets over the course of a few seconds. This was made using a breadboard 4 resistors and an Arduino uno 3 along with 4 led lights of different colors.

TinkerCad Project Update

I have decided to make a smart trash bin that will tell you when its full and when trash day is coming around. I hope to do this using at most two Arduino unos and the 3d modeling software on tinkerCad.com

Circuits so far

Currently I have created 2 different circuits to incorporate into this trashcan. I have developed one to detect a person approaching the trashcan so the lid will open automatically and I have created another that monitors the level of trash in the bin and signals for when the bin is full

**This is the circuit for the trash fill light**

**This is the circuit for the sensor to see if anyone is approaching the trash can and automatically open up**

Sorry for the late update its crunch time right now with finals coming up, but I’ve finished combining the two circuits into one Arduino and setting up the lights.

I also progressed on my 3d model by finding a trashcan model online and attaching my circuit to it.

Below is a link for my video showing the progression of my project from spring break until now.

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