Coming Soon: Intelligent Recycling Robots

 There is a ton of waste out there in the world. I’m not just talking personal waste, I’m talking construction and demolition waste (CND). In 2006, the European Commission on the Environment reported there was 900 million tons of  CND waste in the EU  - that makes up about 25% of all waste generated in the EU alone. In contrast, municipal waste, which is what we citizens make every day in our homes and businesses, makes up 14% of all waste generated in the EU.

Just so we are clear about this particular waste let me explain directly from the European Topic Centre on Sustainable Consumption and Production: CND waste includes soils, concrete, bricks, glass, wood, plasterboard, asbestos, metals and plastic. And, to get a basic point of reference, construction and demolition waste stems from the construction of buildings and civil infrastructure, total or partial demolition of buildings and civil infrastructure, road planning and maintenance most of which can be recycled in one way or another.

Here’s the thing, currently the primary methods used to treat and dispose of CND waste is landfill, incineration and recycling.  The EU has identified construction and demolition waste as a priority waste stream which means that policies and measures ensuring increased recycling of CND waste versus landfill and incineration will take priority. The large volume of waste produced takes up valuable space in landfills. However, a majority of this type of waste can be recycled and reused for other construction projects. The issue is sorting and separation.

Today, CND waste is sorted in large mechanized processing plants or manually, by people. Two issues: sorting facilities have a limited ability to separate recyclable fractions and manual sorting has actually been “forbidden” since 1975 by the EU. (See European Commission Environment) Despite the fact that the EU urges member states to "encourage prevention" against this, thousands of people are employed in manual sorting, picking usable raw materials off conveyors.

PROMOTED

Which brings us to raw materials. It’s a well-known fact we are running out of raw materials, for everything. Gizmodo's Jesus Diaz paints the best picture for the scenario that exists today. Just one example from his article: copper will be gone in about 61 years. This excellent graphic from the same Gizmodo article paints the picture. How Long Will It Last?

Is the picture of resources, waste management and recycling now clear?

So now what happens when you combine a Finnish rapper, the youngest Finn to get a PhD at the tender age of 20, and a team of folks with PhD’s in machine learning, Artificial Intelligence (AI) and quantum chemistry who have a passion for machines and CND waste? You get ZenRobotics.

Forbes own Alex Knapp, first introduced to ZenRobotics to us in April 2011 in his Robot Overlords column and today, they are still talking CDN waste.

ZenRobotics believes they have the answer to solving the CND waste problem with their intelligent industrial robots. A robotic recycling system powered by AI that can not only sort the waste, but it can tell the difference between what can be recycled/reused and what can’t be recycled.

First, they don’t actually make the robots. They make the AI that goes in the robots. Second, their AI brain is so smart it identifies, sorts and separates raw material from waste from the shape of that waste. This is their special sauce.

This 1.44 minute video shows you how serious Zen Robotics is about waste and their intelligent robots.

“The waste catastrophe threatening our planet is of global concern,” said Dr. Jaakko Särelä, CEO, ZenRobotics. “We are drowning in trash and most of the raw materials we rely on will run out in our lifetime.  We created ZenRobotics to establish an intelligent recycling process for commercial and demolition waste and begin to change the balance of waste and resources and increase the volume of recycled materials.”

The ZenRobotics Recycler is made up of off the shelf robotics components and uses data from a combination of visual sensors, mental detectors, weight measurements and feedback from its robotic arm to identify items and raw materials from waste. Sensors include visible spectrum cameras, 3D laser scanners and a spectrometer analysis (just to name a few) that creates an accurate analysis of waste which has not been possible with mechanical technology or human labor before.

Unlike any other sorting method today, the ZenRobotics Recycler can perform multiple simultaneous sorting tasks; reclaim various raw materials and remove contaminants from the main stream. For example, contaminant removal may include the separation of unwanted materials like electronics, PVC and minerals.

Currently, the ZenRobotics Recycler is being tested with SITA, Europe's largest environmental company handling waste, and has been up and running since February 2011. The results to date have been impressive leading SITA to predict they hope to improve recovery with 75 to 80% of the sorted waste will be taken into recycling.

Can these industrial intelligent robots save our planet? Someone has to.