CleanRobotics announces new features for TrashBot autonomous scrap-sorting bin

Recycling technology company CleanRobotics, Longmont, Colorado, has announced new features in its autonomous scrap sorting bin, TrashBot, that will enable it to deliver custom content in response to users throwing away items.

The company says TrashBot aids in the recycling process by sorting scrap at the point of disposal using artificial intelligence (AI) and driving user engagement around scrap diversion and recycling. CleanRobotics adds TrashBot also collects data on every piece of scrap deposited and provides on-demand, cloud-based item audits, making it a solution for high-traffic areas where improper sorting and excessive contamination have been considerable obstacles to successful recycling and composting.

With its newest feature, the company says TrashBot will be able to display custom educational content on its built-in 55-inch video screen based on disposed items and respond to users with feedback in real time. Once TrashBot sorts the scrap item into the correct bin inside, the user will get a helpful tip based on the item they just threw away, acknowledging the completion of the process and providing education.

Using TrashBot’s scrap data, the CleanRobotics team says it will continue to develop relevant educational content reflecting the trends of its host facility. CleanRobotics lists airports, hospitals, stadiums and other high-traffic areas as ideal locations for the machine.

“One of the more compelling aspects of TrashBot’s tech is its AI-based sorting algorithm, which correctly identifies objects at the point of disposal, leading to 95 percent stream accuracy,” CleanRobotics’ Senior Director of Software and AI, Richard Galvez, Ph.D., says. “With the introduction of our new interactive content feature, the TrashBot’s AI system has gotten just a bit smarter. With this feature, TrashBot can now react to the precise item disposed and educate users on context-specific tips related to the detected item.

For example, Galvez continues, “Although identifying plastic bottles and diverting the from landfill is great enough, the TrashBot’s AI can now also advise the user to empty out water from their plastic bottles before disposal so they can be properly recycled.”

The company claims that by deploying TrashBot units nationwide in high-traffic areas, it can educate millions of visitors over time, foster a sense of environmental responsibility and encourage actions to support a circular future.

“TrashBot’s new dynamic content feature will expand the reach of the education provided by creating a more engaging environment for the user,” says Alexandra Niesen, CleanRobotics associate director of customer success. “Our customers will now be able to leverage this engagement of their facility population by helping users understand where their waste is going and how it affects the waste management system and our environment. As we continue to track unique patterns through our customers’ waste data, we can utilize dynamic content to change the way the world thinks about trash and how we throw it away.”