This paper describes the development of an automated solid waste sorting system that integrates advanced computer vision pipelines with a robotic manipulator for real-time classification and actuation. The system consists of a Deep Neural Network (DNN) and a YOLOv8-based perception module. Thedeveloped model is capable of accurately detecting and classifying objects with confidence scores exceeding 0.71, and the overall system attained a sorting accuracy of approximately 81.8% across multiple test batches. From an integration perspective, the coordination among the Intel RealSense camera, Raspberry Pi 5, Arduino Uno, ultrasonic sensors, relay-switching circuit, and SCORBOT-ER 4U robotic arm demonstrated reliable communication and execution, enabling accurate pick-and-place operations. Overall, the results confirm that the proposed system provides a functional and scalable proof of concept for automated waste segregation in controlled environments. The study highlights that while current performance is sufficient for low-speed applications, further improvements in dataset diversity, perception robustness, mechanical gripping, and feedback control are necessary to achieve higher accuracy, reliability, and industrial applicability.
Prakash et al. (Wed,) studied this question.