Trash Collection by Robot Linked to Vehicles May Roll Soon

Imagine a robot that quietly and discreetly enters your neighborhood, collects your refuse bin and empties it into the refuse truck.

It is done without waking the sleeping families and without heavy lifting for the refuse truck’s driver.

This is the purpose of ROAR, a joint project with the aim to develop tomorrow’s smart transport solutions. The Volvo Group is currently working on a joint venture together with Chalmers University of Technology and Mälardalen University in Sweden, Penn State University in the United States, and the waste recycling company Renova, to develop a robot that interacts with the refuse truck and its driver to accomplish the work.

The project is called ROAR, for Robot-based Autonomous Refuse handling, and the goal is to introduce a robot that, with the help of instructions from a truck’s operating system, can collect refuse bins in a neighborhood, bring them to a refuse truck and empty them.

All of this occurs under the supervision of the refuse truck’s driver, who can thereby avoid heavy lifting. The purpose of ROAR is to demonstrate how smart machines will assist with a broad range of activities in society.

This technology can be applied in many areas.

Refuse collection is just one example. “Within Volvo Group we foresee a future with more automation,” says Per-Lage Götvall, project leader for the Volvo Group. “This project provides a way to stretch the imagination and test new concepts to shape transport solutions for tomorrow.”

Category: Featured