Garbage Classification: Human-machine Collaboration Makes Work Less Tiring

Garbage classification has recently become the most talked-about topic in Shanghai, and citizens are almost driven crazy by the complicated garbage classification. However, artificial intelligence technology has long learned to classify garbage. Through deep learning and neural networks, the robot arm is trained to identify and classify garbage like a human, which is much more efficient than manual classification and has also freed up many garbage sorting workers.

Shanghai residents have really had a hard time lately, all because of the garbage.

Everyone should have known that Shanghai "Garbage Sorting Campaign"According to the management regulations that will be implemented on July 1, if the classification is not in place, both units and individuals will receive a fine, even tourists are no exception.

The regulations stipulate that individuals who fail to sort their garbage and refuse to correct their behavior will be fined between 50 yuan and 200 yuan.As a result, the daunting garbage classification standards have become a topic of conversation for all Shanghainese recently. Just like taking the college entrance examination, everyone has memorized the corresponding classifications of various types of garbage.

To this end, Ele.me and Alipay quickly launchedGarbage disposal service…It seems that garbage classification may give rise to a number of innovative projects.

Garbage classification is no longer just talk

in the country, garbage classification has been 2000It has been put on the agenda, and Beijing has even had a pilot project earlier.

But in the past 18 years, these have remained in the publicity. It was not until this month that they really entered the lives of Shanghai Volkswagen.Beijing, Guangzhou, ShenzhenCities such as China will also enact legislation and enter the "mandatory era" of garbage classification.

Faced with the "most stringent garbage classification in history", Shanghai citizens complained bitterly, and they need to remember 104 items corresponding to the garbage category, this is indeed a difficult task.

for exampleThe classification of dry and wet garbage has already made many people dizzy: Wet tissues are dry garbage, while dried mushrooms are wet garbage. Plastic cups are dry garbage, while milk tea is wet garbage, so what kind of garbage does half a cup of milk tea belong to?
However, we don’t need to rush into this. Take Japan, which has the most detailed and strict garbage classification, for example. It took time for them to reach their current level.

Japan: How to implement the world's most stringent garbage classification

Since the 1970s, Japan has been facing serious environmental pollution problems and has started to implement garbage sorting measures.It took 27 years to finally achieve universal garbage sorting.Japan's garbage classification is so detailed and strict that Yokohama City alone has printed 27 pages containing 518 categoriesManual.

Nowadays, Japanese people will carefully sort their garbage, pack different types of garbage into designated bags, and throw them into garbage stations on designated dates. This has become a part of their lives.

So, in comparison, the people of Shanghai may feel that they are still very happy.

As the first step in turning garbage into treasure, garbage classification is of great significance.Garbage classification can bringSociety, ecology and economyIf the resource potential contained in the recycling of domestic waste can be fully tapped, Beijing alone can obtain 1.1 billioneconomic benefits.

Today, we are no longer just talking about garbage, but have taken the first step to take action, and at the same time, artificial intelligence is also taking action.

AI can sort garbage accurately and quickly

In the waste recycling process, manual waste sorting is only the first step. After that, the waste must be sent to the sorting center, where sorting workers will further refine the classification. This is a truly dirty and tiring job.

Fortunately, technology is helping us with this unpleasant job.

As artificial intelligence technology becomes more and more mature,Every year, 20,000 tonnes of recyclable materials can be saved from landfills through smart technology.By using technology, we can greatly improve the waste recycling rate, and the efficiency is far higher than manual labor.

Robotic arm for "visual" classification: image recognition + neural network

Currently, one of the more mainstream methods of dealing with garbage is to use image recognition in computer vision and equip intelligent sorting robots to classify garbage.

The American company BHS (Bulk Handling Systems) has invested nearly 60 MAX-AI intelligent sorting machines around the world.Visual recognition and multi-layer neural network technology, cooperate with conveyor belts to deliver garbage, and ultimately achieve the classification of different materials.

MAX-AI recognizes and classifies objectsThe accuracy can reach 90%, which is almost the same as that of humans, but the speed is twice that of humans.

The other one is called ZenRobotics  The company isUse robotic arms and image recognition to sort and pick building debris.

The company's largest robot sorter, called the Heavy Picker, has an oversized gripper at the end of its arm that can lift objects up to 60 pounds. It is extremely nimble despite the weight and can do sorting work quickly.

The sorting robots used by ZenRobotics perform sorting in several steps:The garbage stream is scanned through camera images, and then machine learning is used to identify the material, control the robotic arm to grab it, and finally classify the garbage of the same material.

ZenRobotics CEO Taalas said that in addition to being able to sort construction materials, their robots can also be used in paper mills, plastic recycling and raw material recovery.

Robotic arms classified as "tactile":Tactile Sensor

MIT's Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory (CSAIL) has developed an intelligent robot thatUse the sensor's "sense of touch" to achieve the classification of different waste materials.

Unlike robots based on vision principles, this intelligent robot mainly relies on the sensor clamp on the robotic arm, which is completely electrically driven.By contact, it can detect the difference between paper, metal and plastic.For example, identifying metal objects by sensing their conductivity.

The gripper components are a pair of air cylinders and high-deformation capacitive pressure and strain sensors. Earlier this month, the lab released a video showing the robot at work grabbing boxes, cups and cans. According to the video, paper cups, empty boxes, soda bottles can all be sorted by the pressure sensors.

Guidelines for waste classification:Home → Recycling Points

In order to raise awareness of waste sorting and recycling, Urbika and Greenpeace Russia are working on a project:Design a garbage collection map recyclemap.ru to help people find the nearest recycling point through a map.

For garbage, separate them by material: plastic, glass, paper, metal and other materials and send them for recycling. Recyclemap will show citizens handing over garbage that has been sorted and is ready for recycling.

Currently, the product has been promoted in 69 cities across Russia, and nearly 500,000 Russian users query the location information of garbage disposal points through the map every year.

Care + action is the key to solving problems

Although the garbage sorting campaign launched in Shanghai has also received many complaints and confusion, I believe that with the promotion of all parties and the popularization of environmental protection knowledge, the public's awareness in this regard will continue to increase.

Although there are many cases in which artificial intelligence technology has been successfully applied to garbage sorting in this era, we cannot rely solely on technology. To truly do this well, human action is still indispensable.

Whether it is a city or an individual, its beauty is not only reflected in its superficial brilliance. We must also see the hidden dangers behind the glamour and take action to change it.