Mechanized and IoT waste collection hardware for European cities, designed at Eco Step Italia and built in series.
Context
Eco Step is an R&D and manufacturing partner. International clients outsource the products they cannot develop in house, and I run them from brief to production.
The design work
Form that stays legible in public space. Ergonomic access for the people using the container and for the operators emptying it. Stackability, because these ship by the hundred.
SolidWorks and Rhino parts and assemblies for volumes of thousands per year, with assemblies running past 100 components. Molds and tooling across sheet metal, ABS injection, HDPE rotational molding and thermoforming. A modular mold system cut tooling spend.
DFM and DFA worked out with the production operators rather than specified at them. Scale PLA and SLA prints first for form, then 1:1 sheet metal prototypes on the shop floor for fit and tolerance stack.
Electronics
A custom ESP32-S3 controller PCB, laid out in KiCad, for a motorized drum hatch. Released to manufacture.
Patent
One of the containers is now a published patent application, EP4497703A1. It is a sealed rotating-tank container that keeps the tank mouth inside the lid throughout discharge, so it cannot leak. I produced the technical drawings, figures and renderings for the filing. Applicant Eco Step Italia S.r.l., inventor Stefano Tolasi.
24 products into series production so far, and 18 tenders secured.