TrashDash
B1: Qimeng Yu, Siying Li, Yilu Huang
18-500 Capstone Design, Spring 2026
Electrical and Computer Engineering Department
Carnegie Mellon University
System Architecture
Product Pitch
TrashDash is a voice-activated, vision-guided mobile trash bin designed for indoor spaces like dorm rooms, where traditional bins are inconvenient to access. With a simple wake word (“Hi TrashDash”), the system activates, detects a user’s hand gesture, and autonomously navigates to the user while avoiding obstacles.
Key Features
TrashDash turns a passive object into an interactive, intelligent assistant, improving convenience, hygiene, and accessibility in everyday environments.
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https://course.ece.cmu.edu/~ece500/projects/s26-teamb1/
System Description
System Evaluation
Additional Information
Hardware Architecture
Software Architecture
TrashDash is a centralized embedded robotic system built on a Raspberry Pi 5.
The hardware includes
The robot uses a four-wheel mecanum chassis with encoder DC motors, driven through a motor driver using GPIO-based PWM signals.
The system is designed to operate under ~25 W power with real-time sensor integration and stable mobile operation.
Metric | Target | Actual |
Wake word recognition accuracy within 3m straight-line distance | > 90% accuracy (54/60) | 95% (57/60) |
Voice command to system response latency | < 1s average latency | 0.4s |
Hand detection range | Reliable detection from 1-3m | High accuracy ≤ 2.5m 70% accuracy at 3m |
Scanning rotation finds user | >70% accuracy (7/10) | 90% at 1-2.5m 70% at 3m |
Battery Life | >= 30 minutes runtime | >1 hour |
End-to-end test (no obstacles) | Reaches target zone (<30cm) in >= 85% trials | 90% |
End-to-end test (with obstacles) | Reaches target zone (<30cm) in >= 75% trials | 80% |