Dustbot - Networked and Cooperating Robots for Urban Hygiene

The aim of the DustBot project was to design, develop, test and demonstrate a system to improve urban hygiene using a network of autonomous and cooperating robots, embedded in an Ambient Intelligence infrastructure. Dustbot is a STREP project funded by the European Union in the 6th ICT FP.

The robots developed in the DustBot project are used to carry out three key services: (1) door-to-door garbage collection (demanded by a registered user through SMS); (2) street cleaning and (3) monitoring of air pollutants.

The developed robots are able to move with a selectable level of autonomy to carry out their tasks in urban environment. This is achieved by using existing area maps, the input from on-board sensory systems and information from the Ambient Intelligence system.