People suck, so a robot with Microsoft AI has to pick up cigarette butts
Project.BB uses Microsoft Trove AI technology to learn how to identify cigarette butts on beaches.
When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.
What you need to know
Litter is a global problem, and each year over 4.5 trillion cigarette butts are improperly disposed. Many of those butts end up in the sands of beaches. A pair of Dutch engineers, Martijn Lukaart and Edwin Bos, designed a robot to pick up cigarette butts to clean up beaches. It’s calledBeachBot, or BB, and it uses artificial intelligence tech from Microsoft (viaCNET).
BB gets better at identifying the waste it can pick up as it receives more images of cigarette butts. TechTics, the company behind BB, asked people to send in photos to help teach the robot. Right now, it’s received 200 images that it can use to learn, but it needs about 2,000 in total.
These images are processed withMicrosoft’s Trove AI systemfor machine learning.
The robot can then identify cigarette butts in the wild and place them into a bin that it carries. After it’s done cleaning, people dispose of the waste properly.
To help BB out, TechTics is working on a pair of smaller robots that can look for cigarette butts. They’ll then tell BB where the butts are so it can pick them up.
While the tech is impressive, TechTics wants to get people to litter less. If people stop throwing their cigarette butts onto the beach, robots like Project.BB wouldn’t be necessary.
This isn’t the first time that we’ve seen AI and robots used to clean up waste.Razer and Clearbot created an AI dronethat removes waste from water to help clean up the world’s oceans.
Get the Windows Central Newsletter
All the latest news, reviews, and guides for Windows and Xbox diehards.
Sean Endicott is a tech journalist at Windows Central, specializing in Windows, Microsoft software, AI, and PCs. He’s covered major launches, from Windows 10 and 11 to the rise of AI tools like ChatGPT. Sean’s journey began with the Lumia 740, leading to strong ties with app developers. Outside writing, he coaches American football, utilizing Microsoft services to manage his team. He studied broadcast journalism at Nottingham Trent University and is active on X @SeanEndicott_ and Threads @sean_endicott_.
