Modelling and Simulation of Autonomous Indoor Robotic Wastebin in Webots for Waste Management in Smart Buildings

Abstract

Waste bins are being used in an indoor environment by every common man for over many decades. Proper disposal of the waste and the waste collection system in an indoor environment is an important aspect of the cleanliness of the environment, the outlook of the environment, and as well as considering the health aspects of the people. An improper waste collection system in an indoor environment leads to a foul smell and unhygienic condition, thus inherently results in environmental pollution. Another crucial challenge is devising a safe navigation methodology for the smart waste bin in the indoor environment and efficiently model and simulate its performance. Therefore, in this paper, Mobile Smart Waste Bin with a smart waste collection system is proposed using the technical advancements in robotic technology with the navigation techniques. A simple line following navigation technique is employed in such a way that, when the waste bin gets filled with trash, the corresponding bin autonomously moves to the common collection point. This is done to analyse the integration of the physical and intrinsic characteristics of the system through simulation studies and the results are reported. The performance of the proposed indoor robotic dustbin bin is modelled with the underlying physics as well as the environment in webots virtual simulator. The effectiveness of the system is analysed through simulation studies in webots simulator and the results are visualized and reported. Thus, the designed mobile smart bin and proposed waste collection system will be a better autonomous solution compared to existing ones in the indoor environment of Smart Buildings.