Robótica educacional: reciclagem de resíduos

Abstract

This work aims to associate the concept Educational Robotics with Waste Recyclingn developing a robotic device capable of identifying, collecting and discarding waste in the correct place, in order to be applied in activities with Elementary School students. The prototype consists a two-wheeled cart controlled by the Arduino platform microcontroller. This prototype is controlled by smartphone by Bluetooth. It has sensors for identification of metals, glass and plastics. In this work, study was done in relation to the concept of Educational Robotics, as this helps in the development of logical reasoning and stimulates the sciences in children. How it enables interactivity with technology and how it aids in the construction of knowledge empirically. This work contains the analysis of some works developed recently in this area, using components of electronics and robotics, related to the educational area. It also includes research on the elements required for the construction of the robotic device, such as microcontrollers, capacitive sensors, inductive sensors and color sensors. For the identification of the disposal collector in relation to color, a color sensor is used. The legislation in Brazil provides for a color code to be adopted in the collectors for each type of material. The purpose of the hardware developed is to identify the type of waste material, collect it, move to the collector and, through the sensors, identify if it is the correct collector and do the disposal. If it is not in the correct collector, a warning signal will be issued. The prototype attended the beginning aims, it being capable to locomote through remote control and identify correctly the materials and the colors through its sensors. Following, the hardware was applied at an Elementary School to a class of seventh, eighth and ninth graders in a robotics workshop. Students were able to apply and reinforce their concepts related to waste recycling and were very enthusiastic about robotics, showing great interest in the prototype.(sic)