UK-based, Recycleye brings advanced ML, computer vision & robotics to the global waste management industry. Using FANUC industrial robots (under a mutually exclusive agreement), the startup has developed image recognition software that can distinguish btw different types of waste (e.g. plastics, aluminum, paper & cardboard) extremely quickly (objects are scanned & identified at unrivaled 60 frames per second – 2x the industry standard – & each item is seen on avg 30 times as it passes along the conveyor belt); then “picking it” – at the end of the sorting process, in a material recovery facility (MRF) – with more consistent accuracy than a human. Recycleyes’ tech can be retrofitted to existing material recovery facilities (MRF) in a couple of days (minimizing plant downtime). It’s worth noting here, that the opportunity for AI-based waste sorting tech is staggering, with only 8% of global waste recycled today; the addressable market stands at $114bn globally but has the “potential to increase 14x to $1.6tr when the cost of sorting is reduced”. In trying to bring this about, Recycleye ~competes with GreyParrot (UK) (<€17m), TrueCircle (UK) (<€5m) as well as AMP Robotics (US) (<€170m) & Glacier (US)(<€4m). Founded in 2019 by Victor Dewulf (CEO) & Peter Hedley (CTO), the Recycleye team has grown to <30 employees. The latest funding will enable Recycleye to continue its scaling journey, which has gone from a v1 with a GoPro & a treadmill, to having operational robots now installed in MRFs across England, Scotland, Ireland, Australia, France & the US, with multiple orders confirmed in Italy & Belgium. <Source: techfundingnews.com, techcrunch.com, impactalpha.com, roboticsandautomationnews.com>
