AI-powered Robotic Material Recovery in a Box

Project Information

RECLAIM

Grant agreement ID: 101070524

DOI

10.3030/101070524

Project closed

EC signature date 21 June 2022

Start date 1 September 2022

End date 31 August 2025

Funded under

• Digital, Industry and Space

Total cost

€ 3 278 725,00

EU contribution

€ 2 934 800,00

Coordinated by

IDRYMA TECHNOLOGIAS KAI EREVNAS
Greece

Periodic Reporting for period 2 - RECLAIM (AI-powered Robotic Material Recovery in a Box)

Reporting period: 2024-03-01 to 2025-08-31

Summary of the context and overall objectives of the project

Recyclable materials recovery is a key element of the circular economy and the EU Green Deal. It is typically performed manually at large scale Material Recovery Facilities (MRFs) installed close to dense urban areas. Recent advances in AI and robotics have enabled the automation of several MRF activities. However, they target large waste volumes and are not cost-effective for smaller, less accessible areas.
To accommodate the latter, portable material recovery units can be deployed nearby. Despite the increasing demand for portable units, offerings lack intelligent, automated components that could significantly increase their productivity. To fill this gap, RECLAIM develops a portable, robotic MRF (prMRF) tailored to small-scale material recovery. The project exploits well-tested technology in robotics, AI and data analytics which is improved to facilitate distributed material recovery.

RECLAIM adopts a modular multi-robot/multi-gripper approach for material recovery, based on low cost Robotic Recycling Workers (RoReWos). An AI module combines imaging in the visual and infrared domain to identify, localize and categorize recyclables. The output of this module is used by a multi-RoReWo team that implements efficient and accurate material sorting. Further, a citizen science approach will increase social sensitivity to the Green Deal. This is accomplished via a novel Recycling Data-Game that enables and encourages citizens to participate in project RTD activities by providing annotations to be used in deep learning for the retraining of the AI module.

RECLAIM developments will be implemented and repeatedly assessed in demanding, real material recovery tasks. Three different scenarios will attest its effectiveness and applicability in a broad range of locations that face material recovery challenges. This will pave the way for the prMRF market uptake and provide a major boost in making Europe zero polluting, climate-neutral, sustainable and globally competitive.

Work performed from the beginning of the project to the end of the period covered by the report and main results achieved so far

The RECLAIM project has successfully delivered a portable robotic Material Recovery Facility (prMRF) capable of efficiently sorting recyclable waste in small, remote, or otherwise hard-to-access regions. By overcoming the dependence on large centralized waste management infrastructures, the project has demonstrated a cost-effective, scalable, and rapidly deployable solution suited to local material recovery operations.

Throughout RECLAIM, proven advances in robotics, computer vision, and artificial intelligence were not only leveraged but significantly refined and integrated into a cohesive industrial-grade system. The resulting prMRF combines robustness, mobility, and a high degree of automation, establishing a new benchmark for decentralized and sustainable waste processing.

The final project report summarizes the completed activities and validated outcomes of the project, highlighting the progress achieved particularly in the second half of its duration, during which efforts concentrated on system-level integration, optimization, and real-world testing.

Progress beyond the state of the art and expected potential impact (including the socio-economic impact and the wider societal implications of the project so far)

RECLAIM introduced an innovative robotic solution known as the Robotic Recycling Worker (RoReWo), specifically engineered for efficient and cost-effective waste picking and sorting.

RECLAIM developed a new method for integrating the results of RGB and HSI waste categorization, which enables highly accurate waste classification, thereby increasing the purity of recovered materials.

RECLAIM developed an early version of the globally unique portable, robotic Material Recovery Facility (prMRF) that is tailored to decentralized, small-scale material recovery.

RECLAIM created an initial version of the Recycling Data Game, which aims to (i) raise social awareness about the circular economy and (ii) enhance the collected waste data with user feedback and annotations, as a means to improve AI algorithms.

Exterior view of the prMRF

View inside the prMRF

Waste Sorting

1.5 DoF Robotic Recycling Workers