US: Project uses AI to make carton recycling more efficient

A pilot program has been conducted that uses artificial intelligence to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of carton recycling. Through a collaboration, a robotic system has learned to identify the wide variety of food and beverage cartons in order to grab and separate them from the recycling stream.
The AMP Cortex, nicknamed “Clarke”, has spider-like arms with specially designed grippers to pick up and separate cartons at a materials recovery facility. Clarke was installed in late 2016 and, through fine-tuning and adjustments, has achieved a pickup rate of 60 cartons per minute. The human average is 40 picks per minute (Press Release Carton Council of North America, 16 March 2017).
Click here for the press release (569 kB).
Click here for more information about the NVC Project PUMA: the end of packaging as an environmental issue.

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