Sort waste using local recycling rules
Gemini Robotics-ER 1.5 looks up local recycling rules online, then plans and sorts objects into compost, recycling and trash bins.
Done with Gemini
What they did
The post frames this as a use case for the model acting as a robot's high-level reasoning layer. It would use Google Search to find local recycling guidelines, identify the objects in view, and plan the sort. It would then call a vision-language-action model or user-defined functions to move items. The shown demo prompts it to explain the sort and point to each object.
How it went
The post shows only a rendered animation of a spatially grounded sorting plan, with text interleaved with points. It gives no success rates for end-to-end sorting. The model is in preview.
Worth knowing
Model-level safety filters don't replace real robot safety engineering. The post says developers still need emergency stops, collision avoidance and risk assessments.
Try it yourself with Gemini
Write a program that takes a photo of items from [image folder] and sorts each into compost, recycling, or trash. Look up the rules for [my city or waste provider] online and cite the source page for each rule you use. Output a table of item, bin, and reason, and flag any items you are unsure about. Stop once every item in the photos is sorted.
Source
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