Unmanned Floating Waste Collecting Robot

Abir Akib Faiza Tasnim Disha Biswas Maeesha Binte Hashem

Department of Electrical Department of Electrical Department of Electrical Department of Electrical
and Electronic Engineering and Electronic Engineering and Electronic Engineering and Electronic Engineering
Bangladesh University of Bangladesh University of Bangladesh University of Bangladesh University of
Engineering and Technology Engineering and Technology Engineering and Technology Engineering and Technology
Dhaka, Bangladesh Dhaka, Bangladesh Dhaka, Bangladesh Dhaka, Bangladesh
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Kristi Rahman Arnab Bhattacharjee Shaikh Anowarul Fattah

Department of Electrical and Electronic Department of Electrical and Electronic Department of Electrical and Electronic
Engineering Engineering Engineering
Bangladesh University of Engineering Bangladesh University of Engineering Bangladesh University of Engineering
and Technology and Technology and Technology
Dhaka, Bangladesh Dhaka, Bangladesh Dhaka, Bangladesh
[email protected] [email protected] [email protected]

Abstract—This paper presents the design of a cost-effective and harming the ecosystem. It is a huge matter of concern
remote controlled floating waste removing robot which can be to keep the water surface clean from any floating harmful
used in canals, ponds, rivers or in oceans. As the usage of plastic waste. Various attempts have been taken till date to materialize
is growing in an unregulated way in many countries, toxins from
these elements cause an imbalance in the ecosystem and are unmanned water bot technology. An autonomous water surface
threatening to human health leading to cancers, birth defects vehicle under the Union Water and Resources Ministry’s
and immune system problems. A prototype of the robot is built Ganga Action Plan (GAP) has been under application to clean
in which there are two propellers which are connected with two the chemical effluents and floating waste from rivers in India
DC motors to move forward, backward, left and right– mobile [4]. N. Ruangpayoongsak and J. Sumroengrit have developed
application based Bluetooth control system to control the robot
from a distance and a robotic hand to make it easy to collect a scheme to detect floating waste for surface cleaning robots
the trashes. A conveyor belt arrangement guiding the trash by means of laser sensor and have made a working prototype
to the collection box and a sensor arrangement for protection using scooping mechanism for waste collection [5], [6]. Many
against overloading have been used. Both manufacturing and commercial techs are also in use like aqua drone developed
maintenance cost are kept very affordable. The prototype itself by the WasteShark to address the problem [7]. For testing
can collect trash weighing upto 10 kg, clean an area of about 3000
square centimeters drawing only 45 watts from the battery. The of navigation and control systems, ocean exploration, military
robot has the capability of working for four hours continuously applications various models have been developed [8]. The
without the necessity of charging. Floating waste collecting robot local government of the District of Columbia in USA also ini-
can be a savior for the endangered aquatic animals. tiated Floating Debris Removal Program [9]. Manual manned
Index Terms—floating waste, remote controlled, motor control, water vehicles have also been implemented using peddling
aquatic animals, water pollution
mechanism for motion control [10]. All these models are used
in larger commercial aspects and the costs of removing the
I. I NTRODUCTION
trash are tremendous.
One of the most severe threats to nature that the ever Here we are presenting a cost-effective remote controlled
growing world is facing today is plastic contamination in robot with advanced control features that can assist the humans
river, pond, lake or any surface water. Jenna R. Jambeck et in removing the floating water waste safely and quickly
al estimated that in 2010, in 192 coastal countries, 27 million making work easier and more sustainable. A prototype of
metric tons of plastic waste was generated of which 4.8 to 12.7 such a robot is presented in this paper. The design has been
million metric tons entered the ocean [1]. Global plastic resin inspired from the system implemented by Kader et al [11].
production was about 288 million metric tons in 2012 [2]. The robot moves by means of two propellers connected to a
The solid waste generation has also increased over the past DC motor. The propellers are controlled by a mobile app that
five decades [3]. Human health is threatened tremendously communicates to the robot via Bluetooth. The person operating
by the plastic toxins that leads to cancers, birth defects and the robot requires to move the robot via remote close to the
immune system problems. Alongside plastic contamination, waste and the robot will pick it up. There is a mechanical hand
presence of water hyacinth in lakes is a cause of major that pushes the floating waste towards it to be carried into a
oxygen level depletion in water bodies killing aquatic animals collector onboard by a conveyor belt arrangement. As the hand

978-1-7281-1895-6/19/$31.00 2019
c IEEE 2645
 Fig. 1. Prototype of Unmanned Floating Waste Collecting Robot

pushes the waste towards the conveyor belt, the moving belt
picks up the waste and dumps it in the bin attached at the back.
The robot has been designed in such a way that it can easily
float on the water and have the accessibility to move in all four
directions, namely- forward, backward, right, left, with neat
precision. The onboard loading feedback system will ensure
that it is not damaged. Alongside constant water quantity
monitoring will keep the aquatic bodies safe. The prototype
Fig. 2. Mechanical Model of the Unmanned Floating Waste Collecting Robot
presented here is very cheap compared to other floating trash
collecting robots which ensures cost effectiveness. Also, easy
controlling and monitoring system of the device makes it a TABLE I
feasible solution to the problem. In a very low cost, clean, D ESIGN S PECIFICATIONS
plastic pollution free water can be ensured for lives both on Dimension of robot 80cmX50cmX25cm
land and water. Dimension of waste collector 42cmX30cmX12cm
Body weight (Unloaded) 2.3kg
Maximum body weight 10kg
(Loaded)
II. D ESIGN AND I MPLEMENTATION Battery Life 4 hours
Control System Manual
Waste Removal per run 300 square cm
The system is an unmanned water bot and thus the design fully waste filled area
needs to be streamlined, water resistant, light weight and On board sensor Resistive Overload Sensor
durable. The material chosen for the body of the robot is
polyvinyl chloride (PVC) board keeping all the aspects in
mind. A floating tube has been designed to keep the body
afloat and the streamlines structure aids movement through III. C ONTROL M ECHANISM
water currents. The surface of the conveyor belt is roughened
rubber surface and is chosen for its water repellent nature. The A. Control Unit
whole body including the conveyor belt are made of water
repellent materials that do not add excess weight to the robot. The central processing unit of the floating waste collecting
The trash collector has slots engraved where the excess robot is an atmega328p microcontroller based Arduino Uno.
water that comes from the conveyor arrangement can flow The Arduino generates all the control signals including motor
back into the water body and do not add to the weight of the control, sensing overload and communicating with the remote
trash in the container. The propeller has been laser cut and station. Bluetooth communication module is used for commu-
the principle of breastshot waterwheel has been put into effect nication between the remote mobile phone and the unmanned
[12]. The only difference being that instead of flowing water, floating robot. A mobile application feeds the Arduino with
a motor controls the motion of the wheel. The motors used are instructions of speed and directions and the Arduino auto-
high-torque so that the water currents cannot force the motor matically stops the conveyor belt using the onboard overload
to rotate. The specification of robot are tabulated in table I. sensors feedback.

2646 2019 IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON 2019)

B. Controller Design Both the high and low side MOSFET gates are driven using
Atmega328p microcontroller acts as the central processing opto-couplers in totem-pole arrangement [14]. The problem of
unit and the controller is built surrounding it. The controller is high in-rush current starting a high torque DC motor has been
so designed that it takes instructions of propeller and conveyor solved by gradually increasing the duty cycle [15].
belt movements based on Bluetooth signals. It has been given The robot is capable of moving forward, backward, left and
the capability to override the external Bluetooth signal in right and is controlled remotely.
case of overloading. The controller is equipped with hard- E. Conveyor Belt Mechanism
ware filters and the sensor data pass though filters to ensure
Designing the mechanism for collecting the floating rubbish
maximum data accuracy and low noise in measurement. The
is one of the major issues in the development of the robot.
controller also controls the power flow through to the different
Most of the floating rubbish is small and deformable, and
parts of the system. The power section is isolated from the
hence it is hard to use a robot manipulator to grasp them.
controller by means of optocouplers to ensure minimum noise
Moreover large volumes of trash needs to be collected at
in operation. The controller employs twelve drive signals based
once. For the purpose, a conveyor belt mechanism has been
on the user input in order to run the three bidirectional motors
adopted to collect the floating trash. The control mechanism
in H-bridge configuration. It also communicates back to the
is simplified by a great margin as the conveyor belt can be
mobile application that it is connected to in case internal
controlled by a single DC motor with the help of bearings
failures or overloading and employs auto shutdown to the
and frame. A 12V 120RPM geared DC motor has been used
conveyor belt in case of overloading to stop further trash
for controlling the conveyor belt.
collection.

Fig. 3. Functional Flow Diagram of Unmanned Floating Waste Collecting

Robot

C. Power Control
A 3-cell lithium polymer battery is used as a power source
which directly feeds the h-bridge controlling the motor. A
switch-mode buck converter has been designed which provides
the power to the 5V devices including bluetooth, control
system, sensors and servo motor. For scaling up, the lithium
polymer battery has to be replaced by sealed lead acid battery
for longer battery life and higher capacity. The prototype can
run four hours at a stretch on full charge.
D. Propeller Mechanism
Fig. 4. (a) H-bridge motor controller for conveyor belt and propellers and
Two propellers are used to provide the driving force for (b) MOSFET Driver
controlling the speed of the robot as well as the direction.
Each of the propeller is connected to a 12V 300 RPM geared
DC motor. F. Mechanical Hand Control
Dual H-bridge motor controlling technique has been widely The person controlling the robot requires to move the robot
used for driving the DC motors and was suitable for our close to the floating waste and the robot will pick it up using
purpose owing to the simple construction and control [13]. a mechanical pulling hand towards a conveyor belt to drop the

2019 IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON 2019) 2647

waste into an onboard trash collector. The hand is attached to the prototype is tabulated below and the cost of scaling up to
the body of the robot. A Servo Motor is used to control the clean 100 square meters area is approximated in table II.
hand movement for collecting the trash near the conveyor belt.
TABLE II
G. Trash Management C OST APPROXIMATION OF UNMANNED FLOATING WASTE COLLECTING
The conveyor belt moves the trash upward. The on-board ROBOT

trash collector is placed in such a way as to ensure that the Component Name Cost for Approximated
waste drop into the collector. The trash collection box has a prototype cost after scaling
hinged door which can be used to take out the trash when it (USD) (USD)
Material for body 10 300
is filled. The floor of trash collector contain small slits that Motor 40 150
allow excess water coming from the conveyor belt or water Propeller 12 80
present in the waste itself to flow out and not increase the load Motor Driver 10 80
Wiring, circuitry and 30 100
on the robot. A depth of the robot inside water is accurately insulation
measured using a precise resistive water level sensor which Floating tube 10 100
works as overload sensor which sends water level data to the Hardware components 15 50
control system. The Arduino stops the conveyor arrangement (Screws, bearings etc.)
Battery 18 150
when the water level has risen above a pre-programmed limit Miscellaneous 15 100
which ensures security of the robot itself and decreases the Total 160 1110
probability of drowning.
H. Mobile Application Thus estimated amount of 1110 USD can be used for
A mobile application has been developed dedicated for the cleaning 100 square meters of plastic filled area. If we consider
robot which communicates with the control system of the robot 5 per cent of total water surface is covered in plastic, a
and controls both the direction and speed of the propellers and single robot would be able to clean approximately 2 square
direction and speed of the conveyor belt. kilometers area of water body at each run.
Another unique advantage of using the robot is savings on
human-hours. Only one to two operators are sufficient per
robot and thus it reduces the need of plenty of human resources
appointment in water-body cleaning projects.

V. R ESULT AND A NALYSIS

The system has been tested to analyze its functionality. The
analyses have been documented below:

A. Loading Capacity of the System and the Conveyor Belt

The system weighs 2.3kg and is able to withstand a total
load of 10kg. The conveyor belt itself has the capability to
pick up 500 grams of trash at a time. The dimension of the
trash container is 42cm X 30cm X 12cm

B. Servo Motor Accuracy with Respect to Change in Input

Signal
The output angular displacement with respect to the input
command is presented in the table III.

TABLE III
S ERVO MOTOR INPUT- OUTPUT RELATION
Fig. 5. Mobile Application Developed for the Robot
Change in Input Signal Change in output
(in Degrees) (in Degrees)
90 95
IV. C OST A NALYSIS 70 73
The prototype is a small scale representation that can clean 50 54
30 33
waste filled area of 3000 square centimeters with maximum 10 9
weight of 10kg at once. But the system can be easily scaled for
larger water bodies like lakes or rivers. The cost of building

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C. Power Consumption and wind wash away plastic garbage as they are lightweight
The propelling motors and motors of the conveyor belt being and end up in the lake, river and sea causing damage to
the largest power consuming units, the prototype consumes the wildlife and ecosystem of the environment. The plastic
only 45 watts in stagnant water. The power is controlled garbage releases toxic chemical elements that affects very
into the motors via pulse width modulation technique and the badly the marine food chain and the life of sea creatures. This
consumption can be reduced while moving downstream with toxicity also affects human health very badly when they intake
the aid of the mobile application. Though the robot is intended the sea creature as food. Many sea birds and sea creatures
to use in stagnant water where the floating wastes accumulate, die every year as a result of plastic debris obstructing their
it can be made to move upstream if and when needed. There digestive tracts and other organs. Hence, it is of dire necessity
is a provision to increase the power flow to the propeller by to build an effective system for removing floating waste, which
controlling the duty cycle of the drive signals. With greater will improve the quality of life of ocean creature and lessen the
duty cycle, the power consumption increases while moving natural pollution. A large percentage of total plastic garbage is
upstream. The prototype can handle 100 watts of power in case floating in the lake, river and sea. In 2014, a study estimated
of moving against the stream for two hours continuously which that there are 5.25 trillion particles (or 244,000 metric tons) of
can again be scaled if needed. In stagnant water in optimum plastic floating in the ocean [18]. In 2017, another study found
conditions, the battery life of the prototype is 4 hours. that 79,000 metric tons of plastic are floating in the Great
Pacific Garbage Patch [19]. Plastic wastes affect 267 species
D. Propeller Speed at Loaded Condition with Respect to Duty globally, which include 86 per cent of sea turtle species, 44
Cycle per cent of seabird species, and 43 per cent of all marine
The propeller speed increases with increase in duty cycle. mammal species [20]. By using this unmanned floating waste
The relation is not linear but it increases at lower duty cycle collecting robot, the huge amount of floating plastic waste
and shows a saturating trend at higher duty cycle. can be collected and can be recycled or reused. This robot is
controlled remotely so it gives very effective output. This can
play a role in cleaning local aquatic bodies at a small scale
and can be scaled to be used in larger water bodies.

VII. C ONCLUSION

Plastic pollution in water bodies is a very alarming issue

in both local and global arena. Presented prototype offers
an extremely low cost, safe and effective means of floating
trash removal with low maintenance cost, easy controlling and
monitoring system giving feasible solution to the problem of
plastic pollution in water bodies. There are several prototypes
for cleaning floating waste from waterbodies. Some of them
have been employed commercially as well. Most of the
available devices are manned and require a greater man power
and involve a risk element for the operator. Again most of
Fig. 6. Propeller Speed vs Duty Cycle
the proposed designs use oil based fuels which have the risk
of leakage into water and polluting it further. The battery
VI. H UMANITARIAN I MPACT operated devices in use so far lack scalability. Unique feature
For the last half-century, plastic materials have become of the prototype is its scalability and adaptability. With minor
integral part of our life. Each year, the worldwide production adaptions, it can be scaled for use in large water bodies, solar
of plastic is 300 million metric tons and 8 million metric tons panels can be set up to make it self-sustainable, long distance
of plastic end up in the oceans [16]. Of the total solid wastes, control can be set up using Wi-Fi communication and sensors
plastics made up almost 10 per cent by mass in 61 countries for monitoring water condition can be mounted onboard. A
out of 105 [17]. This increase in solid waste generation is huge issue in aquatic robots is safe use of fuels. Use of oil
because the use of plastic products in our daily lives, from as fuel may cause oil spills in case of accidents which may
bottles, cups and packaging, to plastics found in cigarette contaminate the water bodies and be a threat to the lives
filters and straws. Main problem is that plastic garbage are of aquatic animals. The use of battery makes our proposed
not biodegradable means they are not decomposed naturally design advantageous and safe, and also opens a scope for
in environment and we need to recycle the garbage. But only using renewable solar energy. The circuitry is well sealed and
9.1 percent of plastic garbage has been recycled since 1950. isolated to ensure that the electronic components are safe from
The rest of plastic produced garbage is not handled properly. water and at the same time do not contaminate the water. Thus
We dumped the plastic garbage in the landfill, from there it the system provides a unique, scalable and sustainable solution
eventually clutters around drains and enters sea. Rain water to the burning issue of aquatic plastic pollution.

2019 IEEE Region 10 Conference (TENCON 2019) 2649

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