WP1 Robot motion control
The overall goal was to improve the picking performance, and to better understand the causes of pick failures. The goals were reached and the key results are:
1. Significant performance improvements to the current robot;
2. Technology demonstration of a self-learning next generation robot.
WP2 New Fractions and Recognition Performance
The overall goal was to extend the applicability of the sorting robot to new use cases and new waste fractions. The most significant result is the trainable fractions -feature, which enabled the operator to teach the robot to tell apart fractions. This has been the single most valuable new product feature developed in this project.
WP3 Reporting Tool and Object Real-time Weighing
The goal was to measure the performance of the robot better, and provide customers access to the most relevant information gathered by the robot. We have developed several new tools including online reporting tool and prototype online waste stream characterization.
WP4 ZRR System Commissioning and Service and pre-processing of the ZRR Waste Stream
The goal was to make sure that the time and effort of commissioning a robot is not a bottleneck in sales, and that the waste stream pre-processing is adequate for the robots. The most notable result is that the effort for commissioning a robot has been dramatically lowered - from approx. 2 weeks to 2-3 days.
WP5 Testing
The goal was to continuously gather experience of the robot behaviour in production environment, and find out the limits of its capabilities and performance. The work was closely tied to new feature development, since the production environment cannot be replicated in a simulation or laboratory. This means that all development of new features, additions and bug fixes needed to be tested in a real production environment. Testing is an ongoing effort. The most notable result of the testing work is the reliability of the robots.
WP6 Communication, exploitation and dissemination
WP6 has created a substantial awareness of the work performed. The main dissemination was performed through the following core activities:
Visiting and demonstrating ZRR at related waste management and recycling exhibitions, fairs and conferences;
Updating the ZenRobotics commercialisation plan;
Creating promotional tools and channels.
As a result, the new, trainable version of the ZenRobotics Recycler was launched at the IFAT exhibition in Munich, May 2016. The look of the product had also been improved through industrial design. The launch was a great success, and created a lot of interest in the industry. Together with the product launches in Japan and the US in May and June, the company managed to demonstrate on a global level that the ZRR system is a real, viable solution for sorting waste as of today. The three events together had around 320.000 visitors. Four industry trade magazines featured robotic waste sorting as their main theme during the period.
