Punjab Researchers Develop A Dustbin For Contact-Free Waste Collection In CO.VID-19 Hospitals

Dhir Acharya - Apr 10, 2020

Researchers in Punjab have developed a smart dustbin that can enable contact-free collection and disposal of waste at hospitals and medical centers.

Researchers in Punjab have developed a smart dustbin that can enable contact-free collection and disposal of waste. The interactive can be used at hospitals as well as medical centers that are dealing with CO.VID-19 to better protect frontline workers as they fight the pandemic.

Dubbed Ally, the dustbin works by following voice commands, runs autonomously on predefined paths in controlled environments, according to the research team from Lovely Professional University. They added that the smart dustbin, which is 1.5 meters tall and 45 centimeters wide, opens its flap automatically to perform contact-free waste collection.

They explained that it comes with a sensory system to check the level of the dustbin and starts disposing of waste when it’s filled to a preset threshold. Ally then moves to the disposal center by itself, get rid of the waste, then get ready for reuse.

LPU’s Executive Dean of Science and Technology Lovi Raj Gupta stated that considering the current situation, a smart dustbin can be prominent in gathering waste and leftovers, especially from quarantined rooms and other sensitive areas where a human worker can be exposed to the virus and get infected.

ally smart dustbin — The dustbin will protect frontline healthcare workers as they no longer have to handle the waste themselves

Healthcare workers in hospitals and medical centers can summon Ally easily with voice command by simply calling its name and telling it where to go, Gupta said. The dustbin can reach the desired position accurately using its indoor mapping algorithm.

Ally is powered by Rasberry Pi, a small computer along with the low-power microcontroller Atmega 2560. Once its job is done, the dustbin returns to its home position by itself.