FINAL STAGE: week five

The Automatic Trash Bin

Year Two Group Project, University of Liverpool, Electrical and Electronics Engineering Department.

The developments of this project were supervised by Dr. James Bradley

The Group members are

 Haoran Cheng, Xuhui Gong, Shekhah Mobarak, A-ro Han 

WEEK FIVE; 28 Feb 2020

Final Stage

For the final week, the group held the usual meeting at the beginning of the week to discuss the progress of the automatic trash bin so far and what is currently not finalized. Therefore, final goals were set by the group to ensure that the whole project is complete for the last laboratory session; the group agreed that there were only final minor adjustments required considering that the machine was functioning properly by the end of the previous laboratory session, the group decided to connect the automatic trash bin to a speaker so that the sound is clear and loud enough. In addition, further adjustments are required to the user interface. The group has to agree on the final category as it is not safe to include glass as a type of category. The crucial aim is to finalize the whole project altogether and guarantee that the machine is able to recognize, plastic bottles, cans, paper, and general waste.

After the group meeting the team had the weekly meeting with the supervisor to discuss the projects progress from the past weeks from week one to week four and to discuss what obstacles the group has faced during the previous laboratory session and how they aim to resolve these obstacles.

The progress of the previous laboratory session was;

-       The circuit that was constructed on the breadboard was transferred onto a Veroboard and soldered

-       The circuit on the Veroboard was tested and has operated as expected

The height of the divider on the bottom was adjusted and the objects now are dispensed into the correct category without falling. 

Figures 36 and 37 from the week four laboratory session; 

                                       

Figure Thirty-Six: Part of the soldering stage  

Figure Thirty-Seven: Part of the soldering stage side view

The issues which are to be addressed this week are;

-       If possible, the hardware team could try to create a suitable cover for the trash bin out of cardboard so that the servo motor is able to actually open the cover

-       A speaker has to be connected to the system

-       The user interface needs further development and has to be finalised

Suggestions of solutions were proposed by the group members to resolve the issues previously mentioned.

The suggested solutions were;

-       We could buy a Bluetooth speaker to connect it to the system

-       A detailed timeline should be created for each member individually to benefit from the remaining available time for adjustments.

The tasks assigned for this week were;

-       Try to create a cover if possible

-       Work on user interface

-       Connect a speaker to the system

-       Document the full operation of the trash bin

-       Complete the whole project

The tasks for the week of the poster presentation;

-       Prepare for the poster presentation

-       Print the poster

-       Gather all objects which are to be demonstrated, cans, bottles, paper, and general waste

Figure Forty-Five: Detailed timeline of final laboratory session 

Figure Forty-Six: Supervisor meeting five log 

 Laboratory session

As this was the final day to work on the automatic trash bin every member was tasked with something to be able to finalize all aspects of the project, the user interface and the code were the main focus of the software team.

The hardware team was tasked with several objectives such as completing the entire structure and ensuring that all nail bolts are secure as well as the different levels of the trash bin, the team checked and declared that the structure is secured and there should be no fault while the automatic trash bin is operating. In addition, the hardware team attempted to create a cover for the trash bin however it was observed that the cover affects the recognition as the lighting will differ therefore the team decided that this should be a part of future work since there was not enough time to adjust the code to the lighting with the cover built on the automatic trash bin.

In addition, other tasks were given such as finalizing the poster and preparing questions for the poster presentation.

During this session many videos were taken to show that the automatic trash bin machine at this point is fully operational and is able to recognize and distinguish between, plastic bottles, paper, cans and general waste. 

F

for video ten at the beginning the user has to press the (continue) button on the screen for the program to start. As soon as the system senses a hand the cover immediately opens, the object is then placed inside the automatic trash bin in this case the first item was a plastic bottle, the system first says “ I am thinking “ afterwards it successfully identifies the object and says “ this item is a bottle “. The servo motor then starts operating and disposes of the  bottle into the bottle section. Afterwards the motor stops until the user presses continue on the screen, considering that in this case we will be demonstrating the product to the supervisor and the assessor so they will have to the process inside the automatic trash bin. This video also shows the response to cans and papers. 

Video Ten: response to paper, bottle and can

the following video shows the full process in detail 

A youtube link has been provided in this blog to show the full process of the automatic trash bin from several angles. 



https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=3&v=4p3ubLfNccY&feature=emb_logo