
Recycle robot – using raspberry pi and tensorflow - gerrypez123
http://recycleai.tumblr.com/post/158972483103/first-hack-of-a-recycle-robot-using-raspberry-pi
======
sly010
My main problem with recycling as done today in most cities I just don't know
what do they expect from me. In London my district had different bins for
different colors of glass. I live in NYC now, where I hear they have a 2
stream system, one for metal and glass, one for paper and plastic but most
public buildings just have "recycle" and "trash". Should I throw a plastic
bottle in there? I know you can recycle some plastics but not all. Cardboard
is obviously recycled, but can I put in other paper boxes (not necessarily
corrugated) between the cardboard? What about my paper coffee cup? Is that
compostable or recyclable paper or trash?

In a weird way a machine like this would solve my issue if it were programmed
by the building or city to do the right thing...

Edit: typos

~~~
bane
I have friends in Europe, and last time I stayed with them they tried to
explain, as best they understood it, the local recycling scheme. It was so
complex that packaging has something like 5 different recycle logos, and their
municipality only accepts 3 of them, but they're all just a circle of arrows
pointing at each other with a number in the middle.

So can you recycle the brown bottle with the more square shaped arrows and the
"3" in the middle? How about the next bottle exactly the same with the "3" in
the middle but slightly more swirly arrows? Or the same square arrows and a
"4"? They didn't even know, so they presort, show up at the recycle center
with everything and get rid of what the employees there will accept and take
home the rest for regular trash.

It's a huge waste of everybody's time. And the 20 minute drive to the local
recycle center can't be helpful.

~~~
tirant
Most places in Europe I have lived will pick up everything from public
containers not further than a few tens of meters from your house.

You only need to drive to recycle very-specific trash like baby diapers,
dangerous substances, furniture and big appliances.

Common division is as follows:

\- Blue for paper and carton \- Green for glass (some places classify glass in
three colors: green, brown and white) \- Brown for compost \- Yellow for Metal
and Plastics \- Other: Anything that does not fall on the previous containers.

Exceptions: batteries, electronics and dangerous substances, which, as I
explained before, need to be picked or brought to a special recycle center.

------
cypherpunks01
Awesome! Kind of like a microscopic version of a full scaled recycling sorter
facility..
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIVKmwzWSuc](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SIVKmwzWSuc)

~~~
visarga
Take a look at
[https://youtu.be/SIVKmwzWSuc?t=73](https://youtu.be/SIVKmwzWSuc?t=73)

for the "first optical sorter".

------
javiramos
Wow! This is a fantastic application of Tensorflow. I am a mechanical engineer
and I am constantly thinking of ways I can use AI/ML in my systems/work. I
think that there is tremendous opportunity for using tools like Tensorflow in
unsexy applications such as _recycling_.

------
teolemon
If the maker is around: Open Food Facts has an insanely large db with
recycling info, barcodes as opendata.

pierre at openfoodfacts dot org

~~~
schappim
I'm not the maker, but that's super helpful Pierre!

------
wavefunction
I was thinking on my morning walk about making a small drone that could fly
through an area looking for trash it can pick up.

It could potentially go places that are difficult for humans to get to pick up
some litter, like trash in streams or thickets.

~~~
greendude29
Drone Wall-E?

------
theobon
I'd love to see this replace the current multi-bin setups I see most places.
The ones where you spend so much time trying to figure out which is the right
bin that inevitably some people just dump everything in the easiest location.
It doesn't take many mistakes to ruin the efficacy.

An automatic sorter could solve that and training could be tailored to the
location.

Starbucks seems like a good pilot location.

~~~
jonathankoren
This problem is solved with off site recycling. People get it wrong either
through ignorance or laziness. Just dump it all in one bin and sort it at the
facility. It's cheaper and more accurate. Add an arm to pick things off a
conveyor belt, then you'd have something.

~~~
mirimir
Yes, but ...

It provides some jobs, yes. But mostly low-wage.

Broken glass is a key issue. It's especially hard to separate from paper. I
vaguely recall that silicon is also an issue for aluminum.

~~~
jonathankoren
If your skills are limited binocular vision, object recognition, and an
opposable thumb and n 2017, you're screwed. Hell, you've been screwed for 30
years. Everyone knows this.

~~~
mirimir
Yes, and that's the problem. The US had welcomed them, because lots of dumb
work needed doing. But now, not so much.

So how do societies deal with them? People with no prospects, especially young
men, are dangerous.

~~~
jonathankoren
Government make-work programs, but they're pretty much boondoggles by design,
because you're intentionally not optimizing for cost-benefit? But rather
maximizing headcount.

If I was in charge retrain people under 50 for something, with more education
subsidies (including free post-secondary education) increasing as Age
decreases (eg an18 year old goes to college, a 45 year old learns welding) but
with the caveat that you have to move out of Methlandia. (Relocation package
provided.)[0] People over 50 or those that don't take the offer get free
carfentanil.

[0] [https://newrepublic.com/article/131743/poor-get-trapped-
depr...](https://newrepublic.com/article/131743/poor-get-trapped-depressed-
areas)

------
juliend2
I'm new to AI/ML, so it would be interesting to see the source code used for
this.

------
matanya
Not bad at all.

A little self promotion: I'm part of a startup making robotics for
recycling... maybe a little further along than this project :-) but it's a
great start!

[https://resource-
recycling.com/recycling/2017/03/21/carton-p...](https://resource-
recycling.com/recycling/2017/03/21/carton-plucking-clarke-brings-robots-
recycling/)

[http://amprobotics.com/](http://amprobotics.com/)

------
I_am_neo
We don't need a robot to do it for us, we need an environment that teaches us
to do ourselves because we should. A better arrangement would be for the pi to
light a simple led lamp over the bin it is supposed to go in, and let the
human learn to do it themselves from habit. Otherwise it is an impressive
engineering project you put forth.

------
crisp
Really cool project, this inspired me!

FYI: ZenRobotics has been developing waste separation technology for years
now. Not sure on what stage it is now but according to their website, they
seem to have some working solutions already.
[http://zenrobotics.com/](http://zenrobotics.com/)

------
hosh
This is something of great interest to me, though I don't have the wherewithal
to pull something off like this. I'm glad someone did.

Although this is at a hobbyist scale, I think it might develop into micro-
recycling sorting, one of the pieces to help increase the rate in which we
recycle goods.

------
JoeAltmaier
Neat project! Love it.

Sort of sad to see the most useful object to recycle (the steel scissors) went
to the landfill. The recycle value of that one item would have dwarfed the
value of a year's worth of banana peels.

------
mfgs
Impressive, it's already more intelligent than half the people in my apartment
building.

------
neillyons
What a cool project. Nice!

------
paulkrush
Love to see code...

