Project purpose and Description

 

In order to face the main mobility problems in cities and increase the quality of life of their citizens, there is a need to reduce the number of private vehicles and promote the use of shared and public transport services. The core problem is that users do not feel attached to these vehicles and they tend to treat the interior disrespectfully and carelessly. This translates into user discomfort and reluctance and contributes to high operational and maintenance costs for service providers. The Anti-Trash project emerged with the intention to revolutionize the in-cabin user experience of shared and public transport services, as well as to make the operation of these vehicles much more efficient and cost-effective. To this end, the consortium has developed a cutting-edge solution for automatic trash detection, and in-cabin air quality control.

Three different lines of work have been explored. Firstly, a vision-based camera system that allows fast and reliable recognition of trash inside the vehicle using machine learning. Secondly, an in-cabin air quality management system that ensures a healthy environment for users, uses novel sensors and microfluidic actuators that detect critical parcels and neutralize them. Both vision cameras and indoor air quality systems cooperate and provide operators with alerts to clean up vehicles when necessary. In addition, this project has studied the combination of new smart materials and innovative interior designs for the creation of service-purpose vehicles that contribute to the prevention of damage and trash accumulation.

 

Objectives and Outcomes

 

Four main achieved outcomes from the Anti-Trash project:
(i) an in-camera vision system for automatic trash detection inside shared and public vehicles.

(ii) an in-cabin air quality monitoring and management system to ensure comfort and well-being.

(iii) a communication infrastructure and a digital platform gathering the outputs of both systems for the efficient management of fleets.

(iv) novel material applications and new interior designs for trash and damage prevention.