Working alongside your studies, whether in a company or at university or doing an internship, is normal everyday life for most students. At the same time, it prepares them for their career after graduation. Starting your own business while studying is still the exception. Three (former) CompEng students, namely Tarik Sahin, Hakan Bayer, and Salih Enes Tiryaki, have taken this step. Together with Berk Hakbilen, they have started a project developing a smart bin that should lead to a start-up in the future.

Tarik Sahin has a Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering and a Master's degree in Computational Engineering. He is doing his doctorate on the topic of digital twins at the Universität der Bundeswehr München and is responsible for the AI algorithm and software. Berk Hakbilen, like Tarik, has a Bachelor's degree in Aerospace Engineering and a Master's degree in Computational Mechanics. He is also working with Tarik on the AI algorithm and software. Hakan is responsible for mechanical integration and electromechanical components. Enes is responsible for design and production.

The idea is to make waste recycling more efficient with the help of an AI algorithm and thus sort waste into recyclable raw materials as purely as possible. This is already being done in large waste management companies. But the project team wants to make pre-sorting by the consumer more efficient. Instead of the consumer thinking about whether this or that belongs in the paper or recycling bin, which would inevitably lead to misdirected waste, the consumer simply throws the waste into the flap provided and the bin itself uses a cloud-based solution to assign the waste to the appropriate bin in a fraction of a second. It is currently intended that this system could be used in offices or public spaces, for example.

When public life almost came to a standstill in March 2020 and the Ruhr-University Bochum also went into distance mode, Tarik, and Hakan used the time to come up with this idea where Enes and Berk joined later on. They have been working together since then. To further develop their idea, they have been supported by a scholarship by the Worldfactory StartUp Center (WSC) since September 2020. In addition, they received the Founder Scholarship NRW for 6 months in 2021. The financial support was very helpful in developing their prototype. It took the team over a year from the initial planning to the current status. At first, they were able to use rooms of the WSC on the campus of the Ruhr-University Bochum until they were finally ready to move into their first small office two months ago. This is also provided by the WSC. Unfortunately, the provision of the rooms was delayed because the premises were also affected by the big storm in 2021.

We visited Enes and Hakan and asked them a few questions.

Can you briefly explain what your project is about? Who came up with the initial idea?
We have a mission to sort waste on spot with a smart waste sorting bin for waste management to increase the sorting efficiency and tedious documentation process of waste. The initial idea was found by Tarik Sahin and Hakan Bayer during the beginning of the pandemic in march 2020, later on, the team was extended. The idea came up while taking a machine learning course and discussing the applications of AI in the field of waste sorting and management.
You are studying CompEng at the RUB. Has the Master’s program been helpful for your project?
The master's program was quite beneficial due to the variety of courses that extended our vision in real-world engineering applications, particularly the lecture "Supervised machine learning" which initiated the idea and helped us a lot to build the software of smart bin.

What has been your biggest challenge so far?
So far our biggest challenges were to create the right business plan, develop marketing strategies, and reach out to people since we don't have a fluent German speaker who doesn't particularly have the engineering-based studies or background.

Your project is/ has been supported by the RUB Worldfactory StartUp Center. To what extent does this financial support, but also support beyond that, for example through their network, help you to realise your ideas?
World factory mainly supported us in building the prototype which was not possible without their help. Beyond that, they supported us in matching with coaches, getting a good network, and introducing us to the right people.

You are studying for a Master's degree at the RUB. How can you combine full-time studies and your project? Does the university give you enough support for your project?
It wasn't easy to combine this project with our studies, we had to put in extra work to reach our goals and expand our vision. But since we are mostly at end of our studies or already graduated, it was not the biggest challenge for us. So far, there was not any support from the university except from the Worldfactory. But it would be great to have an opportunity if we can get some help to locate our prototype as a showcase inside the university.

What is the next step and where do you see yourselves in 5 years?
We are currently in the ideation phase and validation of our idea using the prototype, that we have recently built. After the validation phase, we would like to turn this idea into a start-up. We want to be able to spread the use of this high-end technology and bring it to a usage volume where we can have a positive impact on the environment. In 5 years, we hope to be able to achieve that.

What are your tips for other students who want to start such a project, possibly a start-up?
First, they have to find a problem in real life, and then they should find a way to solve it. Also, they have to show that the idea is financially viable. After joining multiple meetings with experts from the industry, investors are willing to invest in products that do not include hardware or they are willing to invest in products that have hardware with simple designs and without dynamic systems. Also since we are all engineers in our team, we don't have a background in marketing and economics which leads us to fail in preparing a reliable business plan. Because of that, it is highly recommended to include someone with a Business and marketing background who has the German language as his/her mother language.

We say thank you and wish you all the best for the future.

If you want to found a start-up yourself and don't quite know where to begin, you can contact the Worldfactory StartUp Center.
And of course, we are happy to pass on that Tarik, Enes, Hakan, and Berk are currently looking for project partners/ investors and are also searching for at least one more team member who speaks fluent German and should support them, especially in business and marketing issues.