A trash recycling robot named GARI was recently developed by a team of Illinois Wesleyan University students during MakeHarvard, a 24-hour engineering make-a-thon hosted by Harvard University.

Nico Lopez ’21, Minzhao (Henryken) Liu ’20, Bhavin (Bobby) Koirala ’22, Yossif Elmadny ’22, Richa Sapkota ’22 and Evan Quist ’23 created what they hope to be an easily scalable and affordable solution to a growing waste management crisis as trash continues to pile up on beaches across the globe.

The team of physics, math, computer science and finance majors built “Green Autonomous Recycling Initiative” (GARI), which uses an array of sensors to navigate an area and locate trash that is identified by a top-mounted camera and classified into material categories. Once identified as recyclable, GARI is equipped with a claw to capture and transport the soon-to-be repurposed material back to where it can be recycled.

“It was an incredible opportunity to compete with people from all over the world,” Quist wrote in a post featured on software engineering website Devpost.

To read the full story, visit https://www.iwu.edu/news/2020/students-develop-recycling-robot-at-makeharvard.html.
Author: Vi Kakares, Illinois Wesleyan University
Photo: MakeHarvard, Illinois Wesleyan University

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