1. Uses hyperspectral cameras to increase recognition due to the use of frequencies beyond the regular color spectrum (UV, X-ray, infrared, etc)
2. Cameras located at the start of the conveyor belt tracking waste as it moves and allocating it to robots along the line
3. Robots pick up the waste as instructed using grippers instead of suction cups which require constant cleaning
4. Robots have freedom of movement instead of solutions which are fixed and therefore cannot grab missed waste
5. ALPHA is truly a humanoid and, thus, ultimately designed to replace humans in all work aspects of recycling plants
At TeknTrash, we are developing a humanoid called ALPHA (Automated Litter Processing Humanoid Assistant): robots designed to pick up trash from conveyor belts at recycling plants
Humans sort waste at an average rate of 30 to 40 picks per minute, but fatigue and decision fatigue lead to errors. Contamination items mixed with recyclables remains a persistent issue, with single-stream recycling (where all recyclables are collected in one bin) resulting in about 25% of material being contaminated, rendering it unsellable. In 2022, England dry recycling declined by 7.1% (0.4 million tonnes), partly due to quality issues affecting resale value.
Robots, by contrast, achieve higher purity rates, reducing bale rejection rates and boosting profitability. And this is one of the benefits of the humanoid we are developing: a humanoid able to work anywhere where waste is being handled: picking it up from the conveyor belts in recycling plants, carrying garbage cans to the truck, lifting up weights in processing plants, etc.
For we believe waste handling is unsafe, unsanitary, repetitive, and overall degrading: thus the perfect spot for a robot.
In fact, the waste and recycling sector is among the most hazardous industries in the UK: in the 2018/19 period, 4.5% of workers in this sector suffered from work-related ill health, a figure notably higher than the all-industry average of 3.1%. Additionally, the rate of non-fatal workplace injuries stood at 3.4%, surpassing the 1.8% average across all industries. Alarmingly, the sector's fatal injury rate is 17 times higher than the all-industry average, with seven fatal injuries reported in 2018/19ALPHA is, thus, a thorough solution which offers enormous advantages for the industry, society, and the environment