Project Overview and Scope Refinement
Based on feedback from our last meeting with Professor Tamal Mukherjee and Kyle, we refined the project scope to improve feasibility. The project was revised from an autonomous trash can designed to track and intercept trash mid-air to one that responds to voice commands and navigates to users to collect trash. This change significantly reduces mechanical and perception complexity while preserving the project’s core goals of autonomy, user interaction, and practical utility in a dorm or office environment.
Preliminary System Structure
We began outlining a high-level system architecture for the autonomous trash bin. The system will consist of sensing modules (camera, UWB, ToF), a perception layer for voice recognition and environmental understanding, a navigation and planning module for path generation and obstacle avoidance, and a low-level control layer for motor actuation. The Raspberry Pi will serve as the primary controller, coordinating sensor input, machine learning inference, and motion control.
Risk Assessment and Mitigation
Our biggest concern so far is the complexity of integrating multiple sensors, machine learning models, and control systems. Hardware incompatibilities, driver issues, or unexpected sensor behavior could slow development. To reduce this risk, we will validate each subsystem independently before full system integration. Early prototyping and staged testing will allow us to identify and resolve issues before they propagate through the system.
Progress This Week
This week, we completed the proposal presentation slides, and Yilu delivered the presentation on Wednesday. Additionally , the team began researching machine learning models and hardware components.
- Siying investigated candidate voice recognition and hand-detection models.
- Qimeng evaluated potential hardware components, including cameras, ultra-wideband (UWB) sensors, and time-of-flight (ToF) sensors.
- Yilu focused on identifying motors and a mobile chassis compatible with the Raspberry Pi platform.
Plans for next week
In the coming week, we plan on finalizing component selections and placing orders for required hardware. We will also complete the detailed system design, including sensor placement and control flow, and begin preparing materials for the design presentation. Initial setup and bring-up of selected components will start as soon as hardware becomes available.
