Vision-based waste-sorting robot identifies high-value recyclables in real time

Scotland-based Danu Robotics has just received $5 million in seed funding for its novel waste sorting robot called “H.E.R.O.” Designed to autonomously identify and sort recyclable materials, systems like this promise to make recycling more profitable and efficient.

At present, when you drop something into a recycling bin, that doesn’t necessarily mean it is destined to actually be recycled. The first hurdle is whether it actually gets to a recycling plant, as, all too often, recycling waste may just be combined with regular waste streams.

But, assuming it does, the recycling plant then has several issues to overcome. The first is potential contamination.

Recyclable bulk waste is often mixed, combining plastics, paper, food waste, and other materials. To be efficiently recycled, these materials need to be sorted, cleaned (where applicable), and concentrated.

Recycling needs a H.E.R.O.

This is often carried out by trained human workers on a conveyor belt, which is not only time-consuming but also prone to error. Especially as human workers tend to get tired and bored quickly.

Robots, like Danu’s H.E.R.O., on the other hand, don’t get tired and could, in theory, work continuously. To achieve this, Danu’s robot employs a mixture of cameras, AI, and robotic arms to identify and sort wastemuch like a human would.

The cameras act as its eyes, able to continuously feed its onboard AI with visual data of what items are on the conveyor belt. The AI then identifies and classifies waste by its “recycling worth.”

This refers to the fact that not all materials can be economically viable to recycle, so spending energy and time to recover them is often a losing game. Once identified, the AI then instructs the robot’s grippers to grab the item from the waste stream, ready for processing.

Grippers are important here as they are able to manipulate heavier and more awkward items when compared to other options like suction cups. The latter can struggle here, so grippers are the more effective method in Danu’s view.

This could help improve the bottom line for recycling facilities significantly, according to Danu Robotics. They believe a facility using these systems could easily improve revenue by at least $485,000.

Sorting at source

Given that the robot itself costs about $160,000 in initial investment with around $24,000 in ongoing maintenance costs, that’s quite a healthy return on investment. And the market appears to be taking notice.

Beyond the seed funding, the company has announced that it has received at least 2 letters of intent to buy and has around $500,000 in signed contracts. It also has about 200 potential customers in its sales pipeline, not bad for a company founded only 6 years ago.

There aren’t confirmed sales as yet, but it shows that there is a potentially very strong demand for it once mature enough for release. Looking ahead, Danu also sees potential for its robot technology to be deployed in many other places, not just recycling centers.

Once miniaturized enough, it could, for example, be deployed in places like shopping centers, airports, or office buildings.

“Once it’s smaller, it can be used as a stand-alone recycling solution for events, for shopping centers, hospitals, or airports to recycle their waste at the source,” Danu Robotics founder Amy Ma told TechCrunch. “And that’s the way we can really change how we’re managing our packaging waste,” he added.