Vacuum-mounted robot dog cleans up cigarette butts at the beach
Marie Donlon | July 22, 2024VERO, otherwise known as the Vacuum-cleaner-Equipped RObot, has been designed to help clean parks, beaches, narrow alleys and other areas that are typically difficult for wheeled and tracked robots to access.
Source: IIT
Designed specifically for cleaning up discarded cigarette butts, VERO’s four legs are connected to the onboard vacuum cleaner via hoses while each foot features an attached vacuum cleaner nozzle that allows the robot to gather cigarette butts as it moves.
The team explained that its prototype was built on the AlienGo platform from Unitree and it features a commercial vacuum attached to its back while custom 3D-printed nozzles are fixed to the ends of the hoses that run from the vacuum down each leg to the feet. This design reportedly maximizes ground-level suction without interrupting the robot’s movement, VERO’s developers explained
The system uses a convolutional neural network to identify litter and then employs a planner to instantly determine the most appropriate way to gather all the detected objects. Meanwhile, a visual-servoing system — which uses feedback information culled from a vision sensor to control the motion of the robot — guides the vacuum nozzle directly over the cigarette butts.
During trials, the robot reportedly performed the collection task without halting its motion, thus increasing the time efficiency of the process. Additionally, the robot collected roughly 90% of cigarette butts.
The researchers detailed their findings in an article, "VERO: A vacuum-cleaner-equipped quadruped robot for efficient litter removal," which was published in the Journal of Field Robotics.