The utilization of the intelligent robotics and machine learning technology in recent years has made the traditional factories smart. The intelligent manufacturing plays a key role in the Evolution of Industry 4.0 and has become a significant focus in robotics research. Supported by Mitacs, we are recently working with Evergreen Environmental Technologies Ltd. on the development of a smart robotic recycling-sorting system that aims at significantly increasing the sorting efficiency. Based on the computer vision technique and machine learning algorithm, the system is designed to autonomously detect types of recycling items and making corresponding actions to sort them. We were also working with Nunavut Fisheries Association in developing a control method that enables the robot to intelligently remove the long, sharp spines of the Porcupine Crab by autonomously detect the position, shape, orientation of the crab. The point cloud segmentation is developed for the processing at random surfaces like the crab shell, along with the trajectory planning algorithm, which are new and challenging.
