RESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK – At its campus in Research Triangle Park, Cisco Systems had a goal of zero waste.
But it also had a cafeteria that generated 15,000 paper plates and plastic utensils a week as garbage.
So the Fortune 500 company turned to the Mechatronics Engineering program at UNC Asheville for help. And a team of UNCA mechatronics students created a robot that makes it easy for Cisco employees to use real plates and utensils.1
The robot – conveniently dubbed “C15CO” – used its LIDAR laser guidance to map four floors of Cisco’s offices in RTP.
Towing a cart, it now makes its rounds through Cisco’s offices so employees can simply deposit their used plates, mugs and utensils in the cart to return them for washing and re-use – and reduce what Cisco sends to the landfill.
Watch as the UNC Asheville students describe the project and what they learned – and C15CO does its job….
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