Do you ever find yourself standing in front of rubbish bins, not sure whether the piece of waste in your hand is recyclable or not? To solve this problem, four Hong Kong high school students have invented a smart rubbish bin that uses AI to divide the waste. The students called the bin Waste Collection Point.
The bin uses a camera to know the kind of the waste and divides it into plastic, paper, glass or other kinds. To make sure the bin can divide waste correctly, the team tested every product in the school shop and took over 500 pictures of each one. "To train the AI, we had to take many photos from different angles (角度), so it has a better rate of accuracy (精确度)," said one of the students.
The students had the idea of the smart bin two years ago because they saw a lot of rubbish here and there in their village. Every weekend, they had to join the villagers in picking up the waste.
The students decided to invent a special recycling bin that would encourage people to protect the environment. Although the school ended at 2 p.m., the team members would continue to work on their invention until 6 or 7 p.m. at school.
"Our bin is now in its third generation (代). Before graduation, we hope that it can be widely used in the city." The students said, "Then it will be easier than ever for people to recycle waste and protect our environment."
