Volvo recently released a press release announcing the company’s new joint venture, the Robot-based Autonomous Refuse handling (ROAR) project.
“Imagine a robot that quietly and discreetly enters your neighborhood,” reads the press release.
Honestly, they could have worded the description a little bit better because a robot quietly entering your neighborhood sounds creepy but stay with me here.
Essentially, Volvo wants to have two-wheeled bots “collect your refuse bin and empty it into the refuse truck … without waking the sleeping families and without heavy lifting for the refuse truck’s driver,” says the company.
To make the ROAR project happen, Volvo is teaming up with waste recycling firm Renova and three universities.
Chalmers University of Technology (Sweden): responsible for developing the software
Mälardalen University (Sweden): responsible for handling the hardware
Penn State University: take care of the communication system between the ROAR drones and the refuse truck driver
According to Renova, the technology will be tested on a vehicle it is developing for autonomous trash collection in the summer of 2016.
