Identifying the problems
From online research, we discovered two major problems:
1. Students in general have a lower habit of recycling compared to household
2. Contamination of recyclables due to students' poor knowledge of recycling process.
Looking for Solutions
Survey was conducted among Imperial College students to validate our findings and look for plausible solutions:
1. Existing rewarding system e.g. YOYO Wallet to incentivise students for recycling.
2. A self-sorting recycling machine can avoid contamination of recyclables.
Birth of the Idea
With findings from our surveys, we decided to work on a self-sorting recycling machine that can also rewards YOYO points as an incentive.
Market Research & Target Audience
Comparing the existing similar products gives us some ideas on how our product could offer more and the target group of consumers.
SortBot differs in the following key points:
- To be used in university campuses, thus targeting the students.
- Interactive user interface for rewarding platform YOYO Wallet
- Sorting of various types of items instead of being specific to one type only
This in turn specifies the following design specifications:
- Time-effective proccessing of items
- High reliability and accuracy of performance
- Robust design fulfilling safety requirements against misuse or abuse
Implementation & Development of Idea
We explored various possible design options and decided to:
-use image recognition to determine the category of the wastes
-develop a mobile app on the Android platform for user interface
-use a rotating tray with servo motors to deliver the items into the compartment of its category in a circular configuration
