"The recycling industry has a labour problem that no amount of recruitment can solve. Staff turnover at waste sorting facilities runs at 40 percent annually, and the fatality rate is eight times the national average across all industries."
"The work involves standing beside a conveyor belt moving at speed, pulling shoes, concrete blocks, VHS cassettes, and occasionally firearms out of a stream of mixed waste, in conditions so dusty and loud that the humans doing it rarely last long enough to get good at it."
"In an east London skip yard, a family-run waste firm has concluded that the answer is not a better recruitment strategy. It is a humanoid robot trained by the workers it is designed to replace."
"Alpha stands at the line like a human worker. That is the point. TeknTrash founder Al Costa argues that a humanoid form factor allows the robot to slot into existing plant layouts without requiring the facility to be redesigned."
A family-run recycling firm in east London is addressing a severe labor crisis by training a humanoid robot named Alpha to sort waste. The recycling industry faces a 40 percent annual staff turnover and a fatality rate eight times the national average. Traditional recruitment strategies have failed due to the dangerous and exhausting nature of the work. The humanoid robot, built by RealMan Robotics and adapted by TeknTrash Robotics, is designed to integrate into existing operations and replace human workers.
Read at TNW | Next-Featured
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