Drone and drone-based system for collecting and managing waste for improved sanitation

• US 10,095,231 B2
• Filed: 09/14/2016
• Issued: 10/09/2018
• Est. Priority Date: 09/14/2016
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Original Assignee: International Business Machines Corporation
• Inventors: Gordon, Michael S., Pore, Meenal, Weldemariam, Komminist
• Primary Examiner(s): Odeh, Nadeem N
• Application Number:
  US15/264,720
• Publication Number:
  US 20180074496A1
• Time in Patent Office: 755 Days
• Field of Search: 701 3
• CPC Class Codes: B64C 39/024 of the remote controlled vehicle type, i.e. RPV
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 1/22 Taking-up articles from earth's surface
• CPC Class Codes: B64D 47/08 Arrangements of cameras
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 10/13 Flying platforms
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/00 UAVs specially adapted for particular uses or applications
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/29 for cleaning
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/30 for imaging, photography or videography
• CPC Class Codes: B64U 2101/60 for transporting passengers; for transporting goods other than weapons
• CPC Class Codes: G05D 1/0088 characterized by the autonomous decision making process, e.g. artificial intelligence, predefined behaviours using knowledge based models G06N5/00
• CPC Class Codes: G06Q 10/30 Administration of product recycling or disposal
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/13 Satellite images
• CPC Class Codes: G06V 20/17 taken from planes or by drones
• CPC Class Codes: Y02W 90/00 Enabling technologies or technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to greenhouse gas [GHG] emissions mitigation

Abstract

A type of a waste item is identified at a waste collection location using at least a drone-based system. The drone-based system characterizes one or more properties of the waste item. Based on the identified type and the one or more properties, the drone-based system performs a risk assessment based on human health of content of the waste item. One or more actions are taken by one or more drones of the drone-based system based on the risk assessment of the content of the waste item.

Claims

1. A method, comprising:

identifying a type of a waste item at a waste collection location using at least a drone-based system;

characterizing by the drone-based system one or more properties of the waste item;

performing a risk assessment based on the characterized one or more properties of the waste item, wherein the risk assessment is assessing a risk level caused by content of the waste item; and

in response to the risk assessment, controlling one or more drones of the drone-based system to take at least one action based on the identified type and the characterized one or more properties of the waste item to cause biofuel or a bio-fertilizer processing of the waste item to reduce or eliminate the risk level caused by the content of the waste item.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the risk assessment is performed with at least one server of the drone-based system.

3. The method of claim 2, in which the waste item is one of a plurality of waste items in a collection of waste, and wherein the risk assessment is performed based on analyzed properties of the waste item indicating an estimated formation of bacteria or attraction of pests.

4. The method of claim 3, in which the estimated formation of bacteria is assessed as a potential for a disease outbreak, wherein the at least one action is taken based on the assessed potential for the disease outbreak.

5. The method of claim 1, wherein the drone-based system comprises the one or more drones and one or more servers.

6. The method of claim 1, further comprising separating by the one or more drones the waste item from other waste items.

7. The method of claim 1, in which the waste item comprises one or more of:

household trash, commercial trash, environmental waste, contaminated waste, recyclables, and electronic waste.

8. The method of claim 1, in which the identifying, the characterizing, the performing the risk assessment, and the taking the at least one action are performed in response to receiving one or more signals at the drone-based system from one or more of:

one or more camera sensors deployed at the waste collection location where the waste item resides, a human being via one or more of a phone call, an interactive voice response system, and a short message system message or a social media application.

9. The method of claim 8, in which the waste item is one of a plurality of waste items comprising bags of waste, and in which at least one of the one or more signals is generated by the one or more camera sensors deployed at the waste collection location or one or more in-drone-built-in camera sensors, wherein camera sensors of the one or more camera sensors deployed at the waste collection location or the one or more in-drone-built-in camera sensors utilize a neural net and visual analytics capabilities to perform one or more of:

counting a number of the bags of waste dumped and sending the at least one of the one or more signals in response to a count of the number of bags exceeding a threshold;

detecting accumulation of flies or other insects or animals around the bags and sending the at least one of the one or more signals in response to the accumulation exceeding a threshold; and

detecting leaking or broken waste bags of the bags of waste and sending the at least one of the one or more signals in response to the detection of the leaking or broken waste bags.

10. The method of claim 1, in which the waste item comprises a plurality of waste items contained in a plurality of bags, wherein the method further comprises separating by the one or more drones the plurality of bags, wherein the separating of the plurality of bags is based on a type of each of the plurality of bags and one or more properties of a waste item in each of the plurality of bags.

11. The method of claim 1, comprising, further in response to the risk assessment one or more of:

spraying disinfectant on the waste item;

alerting one or more health officials;

instructing one or more nearby waste collection and aggregation trucks to dehydrate waste in the waste item to reduce payload; and

broadcasting to social media to create awareness or to further validate a situation.

12. The method of claim 1, in which the at least one action comprises:

collecting the waste item and flying by the one or more drones of the drone-based system the collected waste item to a biofuel or bio-fertilizer processing factory for the biofuel or bio-fertilizer processing.

13. The method of claim 1, wherein the at least one action comprises collecting the waste item by the one or more drones of the drone-based system to deliver to a different location for the biofuel or bio-fertilizer processing, and wherein the method further comprises:

determining a waste buildup of the waste item using image processing algorithms, comprising determining based on the waste buildup that the waste item needs to be delivered to the different location.

14. The method of claim 1, comprising the one or more drones collecting the waste item, and flying the collected waste item to one or more nearby waste collection and aggregation trucks to dump the collected waste item into one or more compartments of the one or more nearby waste collection and aggregation trucks, wherein the one or more compartments are for one or more of:

household trash, commercial trash, environmental waste, contaminated waste, recyclables, and electronic waste.

15. The method of claim 14, comprising using a visual analytics capability to count a number of bags of the collected waste item dumped so far and sending signals in response to the count of the number of bags exceeding a threshold.

16. The method of claim 14, in which the one or more nearby waste collection and aggregation trucks comprises different compartments for sorting the collected waste item based on the identified type and the characterized one or more properties of the waste item.

17. The method of claim 14, in which the flying of the one or more drones to the one or more nearby waste collection and aggregation trucks is based on a dynamically maintained, by the one or more drones and by the one and more nearby waste collection and aggregation trucks, routing map.

18. The method of claim 1, wherein the risk assessment uses predictive models comprising predicting disease transmission patterns based on at least humidity data to assess the risk level caused by the content of the waste item.