The best design awards for the project “Máquina de Reciclar” (“Recycling Machine”) were delivered last Friday, March 31st, at Técnico – Taguspark campus. The project was funded by the Oeiras City Hall to which the Social Innovation Lab (SILAB@Tecnico), the Junior Enterprises at Instituto Superior Técnico (Junitec) and the Trash4Goods platform joined to design an innovative recycling machine. It is a collaborative and multidisciplinary work that combines art and technology to achieve a more sustainable world.
The project included technical design, construction of the container and the electronic mechanisms, and the creation of a waste detection algorithm for a gamification APP to be used by the Oeiras residents. In the end, it was necessary to conceive the exterior design of the machine, through the use of materials from waste.
The Junitec team, responsible for developing the container, was composed of students Bernardo Pinto, Luís Parra, Cheila Santos, Diogo Costa, João Machado and Marco da Cunha. Afonso Ravasco, from Trash4Goods, joined the team responsible for the app development. The jury panel consisted of professors Filipa Burgo, from the Faculty of Fine Arts (Universidade de Lisboa), Ana Carvalho from SILAB, and Luís Afonso, from Oeiras City Hall.
“The containers are prepared to be placed indoors and outdoors. The idea is that citizens feel curiosity about the object itself and encourage them to participate in recycling,” pointed out professor Ana Carvalho, the coordinator of the project.
The award winners were: 3rd place – a team composed of a student from Universidade Católica and Bernardo Palma, Industrial Engineering and Management student at Técnico; 2nd place – a student from the Faculty of Fine Arts (Universidade de Lisboa) and 1st place – Joana Shirley, Materials Engineering student at Técnico.
The ceremony was attended by the Vice President of Instituto Superior Técnico for the management of Taguspark Campus, professor Helena Galhardas, who congratulated the students and stressed the importance of implementing projects with an environmental and social impact. Pedro Patacho, Councillor of the Oeiras City Hall, stated “it is important to bring science to the community so that the community is interested in science, and Instituto Superior Técnico is, clearly, an ideal partner”.
