TidalTidy

This project consisted of three linked assignments done over 10 weeks: proposal, presentation & report. 

Design Briefs

Proposal

For this assessment, you will deliver a short business proposal. This presentation aims to convince the

audience that you have a valuable idea for a business. Remember, this business needs to be built around

an engineering product or service. Given that you have only had a few weeks to consider the idea, we do

not expect it to be fully developed. Also, as it is only a 3-minute presentation, we do not expect in-depth

details.

Presentation

For this assessment, your team will deliver a business pitch presentation. This pitch aims to convince

the audience that you have a valuable business idea, which is technically feasible, commercially viable

and socially desirable. Again, this business must be built around an engineering product or service.

Report

For this assessment, your team will deliver a professional business plan. Your business plan aims to

convince the audience that you have a valuable business idea, which is technically feasible, commercially

viable and socially desirable. Again, this business must be built around an engineering product or service.

The business plan will be evaluated by your markers using the marking criteria.

The report should be written for a professional audience. The report should include:

• Executive summary

• Introduction

• Market research

• Technical design

• Business organisation

• Impact assessment

• Financial forecast

• Conclusion

• References

Solution

Proposal

Once this onboard bin is full, Tidal Tidy docks with its home station to deposit the waste into a subterranean bin for collection. It then charges its onboard battery with the home-station’s solar panels.

The home station is a replacement model, for the regular council bin, functioning the same for use in the community.

Just a robot isn’t new, though what makes tidal tidy different from the rest is the innovation in automation.

Providing the autonomy of TidalTidy is its Machine Learning Rubbish Detection system. As proof of concept for our Minimum Viable Product, a simple version of was created. We used 2000 images across 10 categories of rubbish to be able to both detect and identify various forms of beach litter. From testing, we have found that this proof of concept has close to 80% accuracy in this preliminary design stage.

As you can see below, the Machine identifies the plastic bottle, and it is 100% sure of what it is seeing. In a real-world application, the robot would approach the bottle and the sand would disappear, causing a positive match to a plastic bottle to occur regardless of the surrounding sand.

A key concern from our market when designing TidalTidy was that they were worried about their belongings being “stolen” by it. To demonstrate the detection with belongings, we input this common beach setup picture.

The output shows that towel, referring to belongings, makes up most of the detection. This would cause TidalTidy to move away from the belongings and the people in the area.

Business Organisation

Now you’ve met TidalTidy I want you to meet us! We are 6 engineers from various fields, all collaborating on our mission of reducing marine pollution through the integration of autonomy into the environment. As you can see from the slide behind me, we each have dedicated roles within the business. We chose to not have a CEO and will instead make strategic company decisions collaboratively. We also have an even equity share and will not be taking salary until after our pre-seed round.

The business model has two revenue streams, products, and services.

On the product side is the robot and bin system, TidalTidy, who you met earlier. Purchase is a one-off transaction of $38,000 by a business or individual. This price is all-inclusive of bin installation and related expenses to begin operation.

For services, we receive revenue from two separate sources.

The first is waste management and servicing of the robot. This service ensures the robot is always functional, as well as rubbish collection from the integrated bin system. This will be billed as a monthly subscription per TidalTidy at $600.

The second service is beach monitoring systems using the already installed camera and sensor systems. Key beach metrics being monitored would be coastal erosion, tidal patterns, and rubbish density. This monitoring system would be purely software based, costing the customer $200 per month.

Costs within the business over time can be separated into three sections: Staffing, Product and Ongoing costs.

Staffing costs are not currently relevant, but will surface with further scaling. Future staffing costs will include servicemen, customer relations and HR teams. Other roles that will be outsourced from the business that also incur personnel costs are: accountants, lawyers, and marketing.

Product costs are incurred through the production of the bin and robot system. These include Materials, Research and Development, production and installation of replacement parts and purchase and development of both software and hardware for the product and services.

Ongoing costs for the business are all non-personnel and non-product costs. These will be rent for manufacturing and office spaces, Insurances such as Worker's Compensation and Public Liability and utilities costs for the aforementioned rented spaces.

Report

Technical Design

To tackle the identified problem of ocean pollution from beach litter, TidalTidy presents a novel solution. The TidalTidy Robot is an autonomous system built to navigate the costumer’s beach, collect rubbish before it enters the ocean, and deposit into the integrated TidalTidy Bin. As discussed in market research, solutions exist with the baseline technology of a beach-navigating robot, leading to the technical feasibility of this solution.

TidalTidy Robot

The TidalTidy Robot is the leading product from TidalTidy and is the main product advertised and seen by both customers and beach goers. The robot addresses the needs of consumers wanting clean beaches but without wanting large trucks interrupting their day.

As seen in Figure 1. and Figure 2. , the robot is propelled by a track-tread system powered by electric motors. The goal for the design was to provide a design that was functional and did not take away from the existing beach environment. Hence, the low-profile design that can move across sand without the disruption of natural ecosystems or beach serenity.

The construction of the TidalTidy robot reflects TidalTidy’s commitment to lowering waste as its exterior shell is constructed from recycled polymers, the track-tread system is also made from recycled rubber and finally the frame of the robot is constructed from recycled aluminium.

Engineering drawings are provided, the TidalTidy Robot and can be seen in Appendix B.A.A.

Looking internally, as seen in Figure 3, the robot is powered by a lithium-ion battery and once litter has been identified via its on-board sensors & AI, the robot follows the next steps:

1. The robot manoeuvres, via the driving motors, to collect the identified rubbish,

2. The comb system, at the base of the mouth, actuates from its resting position to collect the rubbish. Sifting sand from litter and transporting it to the conveyor belt in a flipping motion.

3. The conveyor belt transports the collected rubbish to the on-board bin.

4. Once the on-board bin is full, the robot returns to its home station at the TidalTidy Bin.

5. The doors of the on-board bin open to drop the collected waste from its underside into subterranean bins.

The driving motors within the system power the track-tread system, allowing the robot to manoeuvre around the beach without disturbing the natural environment or beach goers.

The comb system at the end of the base is constructed from recycled aluminium and is able to pick up big and small rubbish while allowing sand to be separated and not moved into the on-board bin. The comb can be actuated, causing the flip, by small motors attached to one side. 

The conveyor belt moves all rubbish from the comb’s flipping area into the on-board bin. The conveyor belt is a key part of the design, as it allows for any remaining sand to move off the rubbish and out of the robot before it is collected in the on-board bin.

The on-board bin is the storage for all rubbish during cleaning operation on the beach. It can hold 50kg of waste before needing to return to the TidalTidy Bin. Assuming that 1kg = 1L, the on-board bin has an estimated capacity of 50L, with most rubbish being less dense than this estimate. The on-board bin also contains an opening system that is controlled via stepper motors to open and close an underside hatch, allowing for collected rubbish to be correctly disposed of. Engineering drawings are provided the TidalTidy Robot and can be seen in Appendix B.A.A and Appendix B.A.C

Motor Calculations

To achieve the problem statement outlined, the Robot must efficiently manoeuvre the beach terrain and any obstacles it may face. As such, its mobility is critical to resolve the problem solution. As seen in Figure 5, two motors turn a driving wheel, within the track assembly, propelling the robot along the beach. By changing the current input to the right or left driving motors, the robot can turn along it’s track radius, and manoeuvre to scanned rubbish. 

As per the Minimum Viable Product, the motor specifications were calculated via first principles and can be seen in Appendix B.B Motor Calculations. A summary of specifications can be seen in Table 1. 

Calculation Assumptions:

The motors must be specified for the highest-load scenario. That is a 15° inclination sand trench at full weight capacity. The following assumptions are provided;

Max weight 50 kg.

Acceleration, a = 0.5 m/s2

Speed = 2 km/h

Incline θ=15°

Rolling resistance of tracks in sand = 0.2

Efficiency of motor system, μ = 0.8

Wheel radius = 0.110 m

Provided that a total of 1004.2 W is required, two BLDC-72V-1000W Brushless DC Motors [1] were chosen to provide a total of 2 kW or power to ensure no excess strain is applied to the system, ensuring a longer life span.

Professional Standards

Although Australian ISO standards do not have explicit regulations for autonomous robots, TidalTidy Robot is designed to operate under industrial robot standard ISO-10218 [2]. With safety features such as an emergency stop button, controllable speed reduction and guarded components, the TidalTidy robot adheres to the standards of ISO10218 in terms of its approach in meeting safety regulations. Features such as the emergency stop and speed reduction should be implemented automatically if a malfunction arises, however, in accordance with IEC 204-1 [2], these systems are also operated manually. For the guarded components, the TidalTidy possesses an outer shell (as seen in Figure 2) that is a fixed cover, enclosing all electrical and mechanical components at all times, especially during operation. As outlined by section 7.3.1.1 in the ISO10218 safety standards' handbook [2], the outer shell of the TidalTidy robot can withstand any predicted operational forces, as well as unpredicted, external forces such as extreme weather conditions. This shell is also permanently fixed and may only be removed with the aid of a tool. Finally, to comply with all safety standards for the robot’s outer shell, the final design of the product consists of no sharp edges. Chamfers and fillets have been incorporated where appropriate, removing any harmful risks imposed on humans and wildlife.

TidalTidy Bin 

Like the TidalTidy Robot, the TidalTidy Bin is a cutting-edge solution designed to be seamlessly integrated with coastal environments. The Bin’s main purpose is to store rubbish collected by the Robot, both general waste and recycling, as well as act as its home base. Its operation is simple: after the Robot has detected a full internal bin capacity, it will automatically drive to the TidalTidy Bin, where it drops its load. The Bin’s side door, seen in Figure 5, allows the Robot to enter. The Bin is designed so that the Robot’s tracks can fit in its interior – the Robot can then drop its load into one of two subterranean bins.

Design

The bin design is based on existing designs seen at beaches in the Sydney area (Appendix B.2), where users are able to separate rubbish into landfill and recycling. 

Alongside its main purpose, The Bin system also aids the Robot’s functionalities and charges the Robot when not in use. Two integrated contact points are designed within the Bin and the Robot, allowing for a smooth charging operation. The charging system also includes a built-in battery, as well as two solar panels mounted on the Bin’s lid to keep the battery charged. In addition, the TidalTidy Bin also provides a traditional council waste bin to allow beach goers to dispose of their rubbish. 

To ensure its seamless implementation to existing beach environments, TidalTidy Bin is made out of 2 mm stainless steel sheets with an injection-moulded polymer lid. Engineering drawings are provided in the TidalTidy bin and can be seen in Appendix B.A.B.

AI Rubbish Detection System

The difference between TidalTidy and any other product on the market is the AI Rubbish Detection System that has been specially designed to detect beach litter. As this is only a preliminary design, the model is currently operating at an 80% effectiveness rate overall. At this moment in time, since the use of AI is so new, Australia does not have specific laws regulating the use of AI [2], thus there are no relevant professional standards or regulations to adhere to. The AI system meets the market need for a system that effectively collects and disposes of beach litter.

TidalTidy’s AI Rubbish Detection System can be accessed here.

Creation

The model was created using Google’s Teachable Machine [3] where close to 2000 images were uploaded across 10 key categories: plastic bottles, cigarette butts, plastic bags, masks, food scraps, general plastic, glass, sand, and towels (people's belongings). These categories were chosen as the most common types of beach litter [4], combined with common scenery such as sand and people's belongings to differentiate from the rubbish. Teachable Machine works by finding commonalities between images in the same category and using these commonalities to identify an inputted pictures content into a category based on the data provided earlier in the category. In the case of TidalTidy large amounts of images of beach litter, beaches and beach belongings were the provided data and the inputted images would be what the TidalTidy robot sees on the beach. 

Testing

Testing of the model occurred by inputting images such as the one shown in Figure 6. And the output recorded. Figure 6. Shows the inputted plastic bottle on the beach and the AI Rubbish Detection System being able to 100% identify the bottle amongst the other items in the image. Other examples of the AI Rubbish Detection system working with various inputs can be found in Appendices – Technical B.2. At the current rate, the model is achieving on average an 80% detection of the correct object from both sourced images and real world testing that occurred on Coogee Beach.

Improvements

Improvements can be made to the AI Rubbish Detection System. Two changes that could be made to the model are increasing the number of images and increasing the epochs. 

Increasing the number of images mean the model has more data to learn from and will be more precise when identifying objects in images. Epochs are the number of times the data images are fed through the machine, TidalTidy’s model is done on 50 epochs, meaning each image was fed through 50 times. By increasing the number of epochs, the model can become more accurate with its predictive results. 

While these improvements are possible, they require more processing time and power from computer hardware than the current team has available.

Business Organisation

Business Future

Vision

The vision for TidalTidy is every Australian beach to have a TidalTidy in use, reducing marine pollution from land in Australia to less than 1% of the current rate. 

This vision provides both direction and purpose to current and future staff members. The current rate of marine pollution entering land in Australia is 130,000 tonnes per year [5]. This means that the goal is to reduce this to 1300 tonnes per year, equivalent to the total plastic waste produced by only ten adults per year in Australia [6]. 

TidalTidy hopes by working to complete this vision, further sustainability will be encouraged in all areas of people's lives, leading to less plastic and plastic pollution overall.

Mission

The mission is to reduce pollution through the integration of autonomy into the environment. 

The unique value of TidalTidy is its ability to autonomously clean and sort beach pollution. This directly led into the creation of the mission statement above. TidalTidy believes by adding technology that can provide a positive service, without the need for human control, to a space like the natural environment, that is constantly under threat from human waste, TidalTidy has the ability to protect the environment from any further damage.

Goals and Milestones

In the first year, TidalTidy intends to build a functioning prototype and deploy it at a beach for testing. The design will then be iterated, retested, then sent into production, aiming for at least 20 units in operation at patrolled beaches around Australia by year's end. Assuming an operating time of 4 months, these 20 robots are anticipated to collect, roughly 10,000 kg of litter (with a conservative estimate of 4 kg of litter per day.) 

In the second year, TidalTidy intends to become profitable through the sale of an additional 45 robots, in addition to expanding to unpatrolled beaches and beachfront resorts. The waste collection service will also begin in the second half of this year. Profitability will also allow for the hiring of additional employees, allowing for a further increase in production going into the third year. Operating the entire year, the TidalTidy fleet can be expected to collect over 70,000 kg of litter. 

Finally, in the third year, TidalTidy intends to sell an additional 77 units. The third year will also mark the beginning of expansion outside of Australia, deploying robots at both high-revenue-potential beachfront resorts and for free in impoverished areas. Over this year, the fleet can be expected to collect over 200,000 kg of litter. 

Beyond this, TidalTidy intends to continue expansion through the acquisition a large manufacturing space, and further increasing the scope of its charitable effort. By the fifth year, TidalTidy will have paid off all starting loans and collected over 520,000 kg of litter.

Model

The business model can be separated into revenues and costs.

Revenues

Revenues come from two streams, product, and services. 

On the product stream is the TidalTidy, the robot and bin system, that is installed on the client’s beachfront. The product is a one-off purchase that is either sold to a business (B2B) or directly to an individual customer (D2C).

Services that can be purchased as a monthly subscription are maintenance and monitoring. 

The maintenance service provides rubbish removal from the bin and any upkeep required on the TidalTidy robot to ensure maximum workable hours. This service removes the onus from the client for rubbish removal.

The monitoring service uses the already installed cameras and sensors to monitor and record key beach data. This includes coastal erosion, tidal patterns, beach user density and litter concentration. These metrics can be useful to beach owners/operators for increasing revenues of surrounding businesses to the beach.

Costs

Costs associated with the operation of the business come from three sectors: Staffing, Product and Ongoing.

Staffing costs are all costs related to the employment of the staff, namely salaries. The breakdown of the staff required for optimal operation is (missing from this website but included in the full report).

Product costs are costs incurred from production. These include Materials, Research and Development, production and installation of replacement parts and purchase and development of both software and hardware for the product and services.

Ongoing costs are all costs that can be viewed as a monthly or yearly expenses that are not staffing or product related. These include rent for manufacturing and office spaces, insurances such as worker's compensation and public liability and utilities costs for the rented spaces.

Business Structure

Executive

The six founding members all have key executive roles within the business. At this stage, there is no Chief Executive Officer, and the executive team make strategic company decisions collaboratively.  

Chief Technology Officer (CTO) 

Matthew O.C. is TidalTidy’s CTO. He is responsible for overseeing the engineering and technology advancements to ensure the business is always working towards TidalTidy’s vision. He makes sure that all R&D advancements are viable solutions for aiding with the reduction of beach pollution. 

Chief Financial Officer (CFO) 

Harland R. is TidalTidy’s CFO. He manages all financial activities including planning, funding, and budgeting. His goal is to ensure that TidalTidy will be economical to run and produce long term for both the business and the customer. 

Chief Operations Officer (COO) 

Connor W. is TidalTidy’s COO. He oversees day-to-day operations, making sure that all business and engineering process’ are functional and working towards the next major milestone as efficiently as possible. His goal is for the most efficient business and engineering methods to be in place in TidalTidy’s day-to-day operation.

Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) 

Oscar P. is TidalTidy’s CMO. He is responsible for customer engagement, brand management and awareness. He creates active marketing to encourage awareness for the issue of beach pollution, as well as drive new customers to the business. Oscar’s goals also include managing current customers to maintain high satisfaction with the products and services. 

Chief Human Resources Officer (CHRO) 

John N. is TidalTidy’s CHRO. He oversees recruitment, employee performance and development. John makes sure that current employees are satisfied and recruits passionate staff members to add value to the business.  His goal is to build the best team possible of achieving TidalTidy’s vision and goals.

Chief Legal Officer (CLO) 

Oliver P.B. is TidalTidy’s CLO. He manages all legal matters within the company. This includes regulatory compliance, professional standards and outsourcing legal counsel if needed for complex matters. Oliver ensures TidalTidy can grow responsibly with all best practices in place. 

Staff

With growth of the business, additional hiring will need to occur. Staffing can be split into two categories, internal and external. Internal hiring is all key staff members who are required on a day-to-day basis for TidalTidy to remain functional. All external staff are staff that are utilised as needed and are not on salary.

Internal 

Internal hiring can be separated further into two subcategories: Business and Technical. The business team is responsible for operations and all activities that are not directly related to the product. The technical team is concerned with the development and upkeep of the TidalTidy products and services.

Business 

Staffing teams that work on the business side of TidalTidy are Marketing & Sales, Human Resources and Finance. 

Marketing & Sales is responsible for attracting new customers as well as increasing brand awareness. This is achieved through advertising campaigns and partnerships that target specific customers, such as sponsoring SLSC events and partnerships with local councils.

Human Resources manage TidalTidy’s recruitment, onboarding, employee performance and relations. This team looks to recruit individuals who have a passion for the environment as well as high technical skills in their respective fields. Regarding employee performance, initiatives creating an enjoyable workplace environment such as competitions and food is created and nurtured by HR.

The Finance team handle financial planning, budgets, and forecasts. They are also responsible for payroll, invoicing, and bills. This team manages all incoming and outgoing transactions to financially allow TidalTidy to progress along its goal's timeline.

Technical 

Staffing teams concerned with Engineering or Technical aspects of TidalTidy are Product Development, Data & Analytics and Professional Customer Support. 

Product Development is concerned with the design, testing, development, and overall improvement of TidalTidy. The product development team work towards developing products and services that meet the target market's needs and progress the business through its goals.

The Data & Analytics team are responsible for collecting and interpreting data from both business and technical aspects of TidalTidy. The data collected by this team is used to further develop the product and services available to customers to better suit their needs. 

Customer Support is a professional team that ensures all TidalTidy’s in use by the customers can be functional as much as possible. They are responsible for the maintenance and repair of the robot and bin systems, as well as the waste management.

External 

Some staff members will not be required full time and as such will be used externally as consultants or contractors. Key examples of these teams are Legal and IT. When this staff are required for operation, they will be contracted. By not having staff with low utilisation rates within, the business is able to save on payroll and variable costs when revenue is low during the initial startup period.

Risks

The Likelihood, Impact and Overall Level of Risk is based on the Risk Assessment Matrix in Appendices – Business Organisation - Table 10.

Limited customer market is a risk with a low likelihood. Extensive market research has been undertaken to design TidalTidy around the needs of potential customers. The impact of having limited customers is high, with a limited customer market the ability to breakeven and move into profitability is made harder. The combination of the likelihood and impact of the risk results in an overall risk rating of low. To mitigate the risk, further market research can be taken to explore further customer opportunities both locally, in Australia, and globally.

Technological challenges associated with the production of TidalTidy have a medium risk of occurring. The integration of AI and robotics with environmental sustainability is a difficult task to accomplish on a limited budget, thus the medium risk rating. The impact of not being able to deliver on the technological design of TidalTidy is high, if the product is not able to be made functional the business will not be able to product revenue and will fail. Hence, the reasoning for the medium level of risk. The risk of technological failures can be mitigated by focusing on R&D, rapid prototyping with testing occurring and collaboration with other robotics and AI companies to help bring TidalTidy to life.

The risk of causing a negative environmental impact due to TidalTidy is low. If the environment was negatively impacted due to the use of TidalTidy the impact upon the business would be medium, the brand would be damaged and as such customers that are environmentally focused will not work with us. The overall level of risk is low. To mitigate the risk of a potential negative environmental impact beach scanning will be undertaken prior to the beginning of TidalTidy’s operation, this will work to limit the operational area of the TidalTidy robot to avoid any interaction between existing flora and fauna surrounding beach areas.

The risk of a negative reaction from the public is medium. Australia has a culture of serenity and tranquillity surrounding its beaches, introducing a foreign object will likely garner unfavourable opinions from some beach goers. This could also cause a medium impact, such as destruction or interruption of the robot. This results in the overall risk being medium. To mitigate the risk of damage, design considerations such as weight and size were thought about, making the robot cumbersome to lift. Other mitigation techniques are to provide education on the problem of beach pollution and TidalTidy’s role in the prevention of damages to the environment. 

As TidalTidy is entering a space that is yet to see a proper integration of technology, the risk of competitors entering the beach cleaning market at the same time is medium. The impact of well-funded experienced competitors would be medium as TidalTidy is ahead in the design process and has market research to back design decisions, hence the overall risk level of medium. To mitigate for competition, the executive team will ensure TidalTidy’s design considerations are based on the target market's needs, while also focusing on the unique value of TidalTidy in its AI system. 

Results

Proposal: 89/100

Presentation: 100/100

Final Report: 94/100

References

[1] Brushless, “BLDC-72V-1000W,” [Online]. Available: https://www.brushless.com/72v-1000w-brushless-dc-motor. [Accessed 1 8 2023].

[2] Global Legal Insights, “AI, Machine Learning & Big Data Laws and Regulations 2023 | Australia,” 7 June 2023. [Online]. Available: globallegalinsights.com/practice-areas/ai-machine-learning-and-big-data-laws-and-regulations/australia. [Accessed 11 Aug 2023].

[3] Teachable Machine, Google, [Online]. Available: https://teachablemachine.withgoogle.com/. [Accessed 11 Aug 2023].

[4] NOAA, “What is the most common form of ocean litter?,” 20 January 2023. [Online]. Available: https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/most-common-ocean-litter.html#:~:text=Broken%20bottles%2C%20plastic%20toys%2C%20food,toxic%20form%20of%20marine%20debris..

[5] D. Sanda, “WWF-Australia says 130,000 tonnes of plastic leaked into marine environment every year,” The West Australian, 17 Aug 2020. [Online]. Available: https://thewest.com.au/news/environment/wwf-australia-says-130000-tonnes-of-plastic-leaked-into-marine-environment-every-year-ng-b881641067z. [Accessed 8 Aug 2023].

[6] A. Ross, “Australian Littering Rubbish Statistics & Figures,” 9 March 2023. [Online]. Available: https://australiareviews.au/australian-littering-rubbish-statistics/#:~:text=Australia%20is%20one%20of%20the,growth%20in%20the%20industrial%20sector.. [Accessed 8 Aug 2023].

Appendix

B.A Engineering Drawings

C. Appendices – Business Organisation