TrashBoiz
Enabling more efficient trash collection at University of Pennsylvania
Inspiration
Throughout our time at Penn, we've run into the same problem over and over again — trash cans are always full. This is largely in part to the fact that Penn facilities only empties trashcans once a day, Sunday through Thursday. If there was a way to efficiently notify them when trashcans filled up throughout the day, we could greatly reduce the frequency with which trashcans are overflowing.
What It Does
We've built a modular, connected system to ease trash collection by retro-fitting trash cans with sensor that alerts facilities when cans are full. There is an online dashboard where you can see trash can levels in real-time and where they are located on campus. We also alert the appropriate facilities staff with a text message whenever a trash can is completely full.
Components
Sensor We are using the Sharp GP2Y0A21YK0F IR proximity sensor to detect how far away trash is located from the lid.
Actuator In order to alert facilities staff who are walking by the trashcan, we are using the Tower Pro SG92R servo to rotate an indicator dial.
MCU We are using the SAMW25 microcontroller which includes WINC1500 WiFi to enable IoT connectivity.
Power Management Our device uses a 3.7V 1000mAh Li-Ion battery for power. We are using bq2407 battery management IC to charge our Li-Ion battery and both a buck and boost converter to regulate down to 3.3V and up to 5V.
Cloud
We are using IBM Cloud with Node-RED to accomplish our cloud needs. We are also using Cloud MQTT as our broker to pass data between our device and online dashboard. These are used in conjunction to create an online dashboard where you can see trash can levels in real-time and where they are located on campus. We also alert the appropriate facilities staff with a text message whenever a trash can is completely full.
Challenges
One of our biggest challenges that we faced was that our Vbatt was not connected to 3.3V. This meant that the WINC1500 was not fully getting power. In order to get around this, we had to pop the can off of the MCU, and solder a jumper cable from another 3.3V source to the Vbatt pin.
Another problem we ran into was that our boost converter was not outputting 5V. After extensive trouble shooting, we ultimately decided it could not be fixed and elected to desolder the ICs from the board. In order to still supply our sensors with 5V, we bought external boost converter boards and incorporated them into the housing for our sensor modules.
Impact
With our product, we can help optimize the trash collection routes and identify the best spots for trash cans — saving time and money for the university and keeping the campus cleaner for the students faculty.
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