Recycling to become robotised
Wednesday, July 11, 2012 - 20:50:05
While it may seem surprising, there is currently a relatively low level of automation involved in the process of sorting through the items we send to recycling as a nation.
However, a recycling firm in Belgium is looking to change all this with the world's first robotic recycling system, which will be integrated at a factory in order to streamline the process.
The ZenRobotics Recycler, produced by a Finnish company, is being created to sell to a global market, although the Maes recycling group in Belgium is the first to actually make an investment.
The robot consists of a large picking arm which, in combination with special sensors, can sort through recycling that passes beneath it on a conveyor belt and organise the items appropriately.
Everything is managed by an artificial intelligence program which can identify wood, stone and metal in amongst plenty of other detritus.
At first the arm will largely be used to sort out the recyclable products which are distributed in waste generated by the construction industry, but this kind of technology clearly has applications elsewhere.
The robotic arm destined for Belgium will be in place and operational before the end of the year, according to Waste Management World.
The system is relatively expensive, at a million Euros in total, but it will hopefully pay for itself by rescuing materials which might otherwise have simply gone to waste.
It will be interesting to see whether this development catches on, because this kind of robotics seems to emulate the equipment found in the vehicle manufacturing industry.
Perhaps the most impressive part of this new robotic arm setup in Belgium is that it will be running using solar power, rather than a mains supply, which means that it should be a carbon neutral recycling project.
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