Videos

DustBot Project Videos

The DustBot consortium documented its field trials extensively. Below you will find a curated selection of video material showing both the DustCart and DustClean platforms in operation, along with related content from the broader service robotics field.

DustCart in Peccioli

The primary field trials took place in Peccioli, a small hilltop town in Tuscany. These recordings show DustCart navigating the town’s narrow streets, responding to collection requests, and interacting with residents. Pay attention to the differential GPS corrections visible in the telemetry overlay — the robot’s positioning accuracy was within 2 centimetres under optimal satellite conditions.

DustClean Street Sweeping Trials

DustClean operated primarily in controlled outdoor environments. These videos demonstrate its sweeping mechanism and, more notably, its onboard air quality monitoring. The sensor array measured nitrogen oxides, sulphur dioxide, ozone, benzene, and carbon monoxide concentrations while the robot cleaned.

Conference Presentations

Several DustBot presentations were recorded at IEEE and IROS conferences between 2007 and 2010. Professor Paolo Dario’s keynote on urban service robotics at the 2008 International Conference on Intelligent Robots and Systems provides an excellent overview of the project’s ambitions and early results.

Related: Modern Service Robots

For comparison, we have also collected footage of contemporary service robots that build on concepts pioneered by DustBot. The Starship delivery robot and the Trombia Free autonomous sweeper show how far the technology has come in fifteen years.

If you have access to DustBot project footage not listed here, please get in touch.