The Problem
In the fight for a better environment, litter is still a major problem. Just think of the 150 million cans that end up polluting our natural environment every year. On Dutch beaches, the problem is even more persistent given the complexities involved in cleaning up on beaches.
Effectively developing and managing the behavior of beach cleaning robots in open and dynamic environments is a challenge. Especially when humans are present.
TECHTICSÂ are a team of thinkers, doers and connectors. Inventive, stubborn and socially involved. Familiar with success and failure. Next to our core team we have an expert network in the field of AI, Robotics, VR/AR/Mixed Reality, User Experience, Sustainability & MarCom.
The Project
The project focused on enabling effective remote collaboration. Developing and testing robot behavior in simulations to build and prove the safety of, and trust in, autonomous systems.
This includes challenges such as engaging humans to assist the robot, taking into account possible resistance or disruption to the robot, and the introduction of deposit collection, where humans can abuse the robot. Moreover, variables such as the presence of dogs, children, birds and other animals on the beach add to the complexity.
The Solution
Techtics have developed the hardware of the Beachbot. They now are using Asimovo to develop and test robot behaviours in simulation. Development work is still ongoing and will use a mixture of both physics enging simulation and photorealistic simulation.
The Outcome
This project is still ongoing and Techtics use Asimovo throughout the project to help build the robots behaviours. There is a broader outcome beyond just this one use case to understand how we can connect these specific problems to the broader domain of human-robot interaction and collaboration
Key PArtners
Key tools used
CAD model conversion
ROS 2
Gazebo
Simulation environment & Scenarios
Digital twin building
Scenerio runner
Navigation
Reinforcement learning
