ME.LAK
Human-centered development of an autonomous street sweeper and control center for sustainable urban cleaning in North Rhine-Westphalia
Motivation
Street cleaning poses a variety of challenges for municipal authorities, including a growing shortage of skilled personnel, due to demographic change and the physical demanding nature of the work, as well as increasing climate protection and sustainability requirements. In addition, the complex operating conditions in urban areas place high demands on technical systems and make it particularly difficult to develop robust autonomous systems. These challenges underline the need for well-designed and sustainable automation solutions, as the automation of essential process steps offers considerable potential to create attractive working conditions and efficient work processes, thereby reducing both staff shortages and the physical strain on employees while ensuring a clean urban environment.
Scope
A fully autonomous, all-electric sweeper is being developed that not only drives independently but also performs all essential tasks autonomously. These include safe, autonomous cleaning on private and public areas, the development of a human-centered control center, options for autonomous interaction with the environment, and automation of operations, including automated electric battery charging. In addition, a control center is being set up where trained remote pilots can monitor the vehicles and intervene if necessary. This will create a new, inclusive job profile that is also attractive to people with disabilities.
Further information can be found at https://www.wb-duisburg.de/umwelt/foerderprojekt-me-lak
Partners
Funding
ME.LAK is being funded as part of the NeueWege.IN.NRW innovation competition within the EFRE/JTF program 2021–2027 by the State of North Rhine-Westphalia and the European Union.
