Interactive smart dustbin for hospitals developed by students

Our Correspondent

Phagwara, April 17

A team of engineering students of Lovely Professional University (LPU) has developed an interactive smart dustbin, ‘Ally’, for use in hospitals and medical centres. The innovative product is a contactless waste collection and disposal bin. It follows voice commands, moves on a predefined path inside a controlled environment, helps contact less collection of waste by opening its lid automatically, senses its current status or level; initiates the disposal procedure once the waste is filled to a predefined threshold and gets ready for reuse.

LPU Chancellor Ashok Mittal said, “The LPU team has developed a prototype of the bin and conducted successful trials within the university. We are now looking for industrial partners to commercialise the product. The final product is expected to be ready for deployment in two months, adding that “Ally” can be relevant for picking waste from quarantined areas like rooms, without any human contact. The fact is that it works via voice command, which makes it easy for the hospital staff to use it conveniently without any contact.”

In fact, there is a pressing need for frontline workers to work in a safer environment. The smart bin ‘Ally’ is indeed a smart contactless dustbin in that sense. This bin is another product that has been conceptualised and developed under the one million dollar fund, specially set up by LPU to combat the outbreak of Covid-19.

Along with LPU Professors Dr Lovi Raj Gupta, Dr Rajesh Singh, Dr Anita Gehlot, some of the research students, involved in the time needed scientifically developed innovative engineering product ‘ALLY’, are Prabin Kumar Das, Vanka Vinay Kumar and KM Vaishanvi Gupta.

The estimated cost of the prototype bin is Rs 20,000. The said bin is 3 ft high, 1.5 ft wide & it weighs around 5 kg. LPU expects a 25 per cent drop in the price post its commercialisation.