# Mothership: A Two-Tier Autonomous Refuse Collection System for Pedestrian Campuses

- Source: arXiv cs.RO
- Published: 2026-10-19T04:00:00.000Z
- RoboHot: https://robohot.news/en/items/sc7ovrs2y66bcb9bnmwdihntp
- Original: https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.22461

## Summary

Mothership proposes a two-tier autonomous refuse collection system in which an electric compaction truck carries two low-speed sidewalk robots, RoboCarts, that fetch and deliver standard two-wheel bins to the truck, return them to their positions, and re-dock for charging. A discrete-event simulation over synthetic campus layouts at 2-16 bins/ha quantified throughput: a two-cart configuration serves 20-29 bins/h, while three to four carts can reach 35-49 bins/h at an 80 m docking radius; the optimal docking radius must be chosen together with fleet size.