MIT has developed RoCycle, a recycling robot that picks up objects and identifies what they are made from by touch. It can distinguish between different metal, plastic, and paper objects. More Recycling means less waste in the landfill.
MIT has developed RoCycle, a recycling robot that picks up objects and identifies what they are made from by touch. It can distinguish between different metal, plastic, and paper objects. More Recycling means less waste in the landfill.
The Landfill problem
Humans produce a lot of municipal solid waste. In the United States, more than half of the garbage ends up in the landfill.
To be able to recycle and reuse more, we need to sort waste better. Sorting recycling is a very labor-intensive process. Even though many recycling centers plants use magnets to pull out metals, and air filters to separate paper from heavier plastics, most sorting is still done by hand.
Sorting trash is a dirty (and sometimes dangerous) job.
While existing robots sort waste by sight, the team from MIT believes that using touch is more accurate. The Robot RoCycle can reliably distinguish between two similar looking coffee cups made of plastic and paper.
The drawback of RoCycle is that picking up items one by one takes too long – so MIT’s robot may be too slow for industrial recycling. There are hopes though for it being used in places like apartment buildings or on university campuses to perform the first step of recycling.
During tests, RoCycle has had an 85% accuracy at sorting when stationary, and 63% accurate on an actual simulated conveyor belt. Its most common error was identifying paper-covered metal tins as paper.
“Our robot’s sensorized skin provides haptic feedback that allows it to differentiate between a wide range of objects, from the rigid to the squishy”
Daniela Rus, MIT professor
The recycling – sorting robot is a collaboration of MIT and Yale University.
Article source:
https://www.technologyreview.com/s/613299/this-robot-can-sort-recycling-by-giving-it-a-squeeze
https://www.budgetdumpster.com/resources/where-does-trash-go.php
https://www.waste360.com/waste-reduction/14-charts-epa-s-latest-msw-estimates
