Robots for a Cleaner Amsterdam: Roadmapping Waste Relationships for the Next Decade

Abstract

As current cleaning targets are not achieved, Amsterdam requested to explore the potential for robots to contribute to a cleaner city. This thesis focused on exploring how a robot could contribute. A contextual analysis, reviewing literature and municipal documents, showed an increasing need for improved waste management efficiency in response to Amsterdam’s growth, increasing tourism and sustainability goals. However, increasing labour shortages and demographic ageing make it difficult to rely solely on additional human labour in the coming years.
To further analyse the context, employees of department Schoon were accompanied and interviewed. Six key values were identified contributing to job satisfaction - safeguarding these is crucial for successful robot implementation, including freedom and dislike of heavy work. Challenges were also identified, including labour shortages and reduced efficiency.
To determine where a robot could add value, three main waste problems in Amsterdam were identified and analysed. Inefficient waste management and littering behaviour were often the cause. To understand this behaviour, key influencing factors were identified and used in the analysis and thesis.
Furthermore, by analysing key factors of waste management behaviour, it was found that a cleaning robot can potentially trigger motivators for littering behaviour, suggesting that the robot's task influences waste management behaviour. Furthermore, when identifying factors influencing HRI, it was found that rewarding interactions can motivate proper behaviour, suggesting that robots can contribute to a cleaner environment without having to clean.
Based on the findings, specific requirements and a design vision for the robot were established, emphasising promoting proper waste management behaviour, ownership and waste management efficiency. To communicate the vision to the municipality, two concepts were developed, the Mobile Robot Bin and Mobile Robot Container. The Robot Bin aims to motivate proper behaviour through rewarding interactions and to increase waste collection efficiency. To align with Amsterdam's identity and raise awareness, the appearance will be created in collaboration with local artists.
The Robot Container focuses on providing waste disposal options at will in the city centre, optimising waste management efficiency and reducing littering behaviour, as the current policy allows residents to place waste outside twice a week. The concept reduces the physical burden on employees by eliminating the need to collect waste from the street and minimises the need for heavy waste trucks in the centre.
To assess the concepts’ value and feasibility in contributing to a cleaner Amsterdam, stakeholders from the municipality of Amsterdam, department Schoon and AMS Institute evaluated them. Both received positive feedback, with the Robot Container being identified as the most promising solution for achieving a cleaner Amsterdam. However, challenges such as vandalism need to be addressed before implementation. Nevertheless, stakeholders were enthusiastic and asked about implementation activities. A roadmap outlining these activities was developed and evaluated by the AMS expert. However, further research is needed to develop and implement the robots to achieve a cleaner Amsterdam.