Autonomous Waste Sorting Robot Swarm SortBot Deployed in Shanghai: 99.5% Accuracy at 10x Human Speed
Shanghai Environment Group and UBTECH deploy SortBot autonomous waste sorting robot swarm at a Pudong waste processing center, achieving 99.5% sorting accuracy at 10x human speed through AI vision and robotic arm coordination.
Shanghai Environment Group and UBTECH jointly announced that the autonomous waste sorting robot swarm SortBot has been deployed at the Liming Waste Processing Center in Shanghais Pudong New Area. SortBot comprises 20 sorting robots, each equipped with a high-speed AI vision system and 6-axis robotic arm, capable of grabbing and sorting waste at 120 picks per minute on conveyor belts.
SortBots AI vision system was trained on over 5 million waste images and can identify 56 different material types including various plastics, paper, metals, glass, textiles, and organics. System recognition accuracy reaches 99.5%, far exceeding the 85% average accuracy of human sorters.
During the first month of operation, SortBot increased the centers recyclable recovery rate from 42% to 78%. The 20 robots replaced 60 sorting workers, but Shanghai Environment Group reports these workers have been retrained as robot operations and maintenance supervisors. Total investment was approximately 24 million RMB with expected 2-year payback through improved recyclable quality and reduced labor costs.
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