Arrangementsbeskrivelse

Want to pitch your robotics and automation solutions to the City of Copenhagen? Then now’s your chance.

Odense Robotics invites you to join the idea competition and 2-day Robotics Innovation Sprint together with the City of Copenhagen on 9-10 October 2024. Here participating companies will have the opportunity to pitch ideas and solutions to help them go from manual trash collection with a grabber to an autonomous robot solution.

How the Sprint works:

During the two-day event, participants will have the opportunity to develop their innovative ideas to the specific the City of Copenhagen's challenge (described below) based on fact packs and dialogue with the management and specialists.

At the end of Robotics Innovation Sprint, the City of Copenhagen will provide each participating company with individual feedback based on their solutions, which could result in a further commercial dialogue if the individual solution(s) are strong and attractive enough.

What to expect?

Deadline for applying, and submitting your ideas and proposals is: 12 September 2024.

Companies will then be screened and selected to participate in the Robotics Innovation Sprint, which will be conducted in Danish.

Learn about previous Robotics Innovation Sprints >>

Background:

• City of Copenhagen (Københavns Kommune): Denmark’s largest workplace with over 45,000 employees (https://www.kk.dk/).
• Operational task: Collection of trash in public areas of the municipality, specifically park areas with grass, where a sweeping vehicle cannot be used.
• Current method: Manual collection of trash with a grabber, primarily on grass, but also on gravel and areas with variations in height. This work is carried out in challenging environments such as around trees, bushes, paths, benches, and garbage bins.

Challenge:

The manual collection of trash with a grabber is repetitive and can be physically straining for municipal employees.

Purpose:

The City of Copenhagen wants to investigate the possibilities of using mobile robots to collect trash in the municipality's park areas. This can reduce the physical strain on employees and optimize work processes.

Scenarios:

1. Autonomous robots as a supplement:
   • Robots collaborate with employees.
   • Robots perform the physically demanding tasks, while employees handle other tasks nearby.
2. Autonomous robots as independent entities:
   • Robots work alone in temporarily enclosed areas such as parks.
   • The robots must be able to perform specific tasks efficiently without human assistance.

Goals for the Innovation Sprint:

• Functionality: Focus on the robots' ability to efficiently collect trash.

• Robustness and operating time: Focus on the durability of the robots and how long they can operate without interruption. Robustness against vandalism.
• Flexibility and speed: The robots must adapt to different environments and pick up trash quickly. They should operate on different surfaces and terrain and perform the work in challenging environments around trees, benches, trash bins, etc.
• Ease of use and training: Easy for employees to learn how to operate the robots.
• Sustainability and maintenance: Environmental friendliness and low maintenance requirements for the robots. The robots must be easy to maintain.
• Functional safety: The robot is designed and programmed so that it is safe around people and animals.

Desired outcomes from the Innovation Sprint:

• Innovative solutions: The City of Copenhagen is looking for companies that can present practical and innovative robotic solutions for trash collection.
• Active participation: The municipality will contribute actively to the development and wants to follow the technological development closely.
• Funding models: Identify possible funding models and partnerships for further development of the project.

The City of Copenhagen looks forward to collaborating with innovative companies that can help realize a more efficient and less burdensome method of trash collection using autonomous robots.

Questions?

Please reach out to Ane Holck if you have questions.