ANTITRASH – Smart Trash Detection and Damage Prevention for Shared Mobility Vehicles
The EIT Urban Mobility promotes the use of shared vehicles to reduce traffic in large cities and to protect the environment. Shared vehicles usually face hygiene issues due to poor treatment from their users, leaving garbage and causing damages in its interior. The behaviours result on an increase in the operating and maintenance costs.
The project AntiTrash thus arises from the need to improve the cleanliness of shared vehicles, trains, and trams, and to increase the comfort of their users. Launched in 2020, this project will be further developed during 2021 following 4 different approaches:
- A vision system that detects trash and damage through a camera using Artificial Intelligence. CARNET is working on this task with other partners developing algorithms that obtain excellent results in the cleanliness classification of the interior of shared vehicles and in the detection and classification of objects located inside trams.
Figure 1: Left, top left to bottom right: original image, detection algorithms (background rest, reed edge, detection and SURF key points). Right: Final SSD network output.
At the end of 2020, AntiTrash started with installations in real environments (in Hamburg) and the results obtained are currently being evaluated. Pilot tests are expected to take place in other European cities in 2021, including Barcelona.
Figure 2: Accuracy of detection algorithms using different types of cameras.
In addition, a classifier of the typology of detected objects and a detector of the number of users have also been developed within this task.
Figure 3: Classification of objects found in shared cars.
- An air quality control and management system in the cabins that guarantees comfort and well-being. Relevant monitoring of the algorithm has been developed and the first real tests will be performed in early 2021.
- Creation of a communication infrastructure and a digital platform that collects results and allows the efficient management of fleets. The methods have been developed and it is expected that by 2021 the resources will be implemented in the real tests.
- Search for materials and interior designs for the prevention of garbage and damage. The first successful implementation of the selected materials has been carried out and it is hoped that validation can be made on both bus and car fleet.
Thus, 2020 has served to carry out a search of the state-of-the-art literature of the moment regarding each of the scheduled tasks and the development of the relevant algorithms. In 2021, the aim is to design a useful way out of the project for the operators and implement the subsequent methods in bus and car-sharing fleets.
AntiTrash has been financed by EIT Urban Mobility as a proposal for 2020 and 2021. The consortium working on this project is formed by CARNET, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya · BarcelonaTech (UPC), the University of Aalto, NFF, SEAT, Zone Cluster, the city of Hamburg, Electrobus Europe, and TUSGSAL.
