AMP Robotics Hits Major AI-driven Recycling Milestone

The "one billion" milestone means that AMP’s technology has specifically targeted and removed one billion individual recyclable items from billions of other materials in the waste stream. This milestone also illustrates the power of the company’s AMP Neuron™ AI platform that uses computer vision and machine learning to recognize different colors, textures, shapes, sizes, patterns, and even brand labels to identify exactly what the material is and whether it is recyclable. Neuron then guides robots to consistently perform sorting tasks more than twice as quickly as humanly possible, with much greater accuracy, and over long durations of time.

AMP’s technology has swiftly pivoted to handle sudden shifts in material volumes, happening now as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic, to recover high-demand materials, like paper, tissue, cardboard, and other packaging. This capability is especially critical as demand and prices for commodities fluctuate, given the role recyclables play in feeding the domestic supply chain for manufacturing.

“AMP had a strong first quarter of 2020. Revenue is up more than 50%, and our project pipeline continues to grow rapidly due to market adoption of our technology and the value it creates for our customers,” said Matanya Horowitz, AMP founder and chief executive officer. “We also marked a very important company milestone: identifying, sorting, and picking our one billionth piece of material over the last 12 months. This achievement demonstrates the productivity, precision, and reliability of our AI application for the recycling industry. It also represents a meaningful environmental metric in the reduction of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions by approximately half a million metric tons.”

Recycling has been classified as an essential industry and service by the Department of Homeland Security during the COVID-19 pandemic. The demand for AMP’s AI and robotics technology has accelerated as recycling businesses turn to automation to remove their employees from harm’s way, navigate chronic labor shortages to remain operational, and adapt to spikes in residential volume and material types caused by sudden shifts in consumer buying patterns.

“The pandemic has hit the recycling industry hard, with many facilities struggling to maintain operations and productivity levels amid worker safety concerns, social distancing requirements, and skyrocketing residential volumes,” said Joe Benedetto, president of Virginia-based RDS. “Fortunately, we had already deployed AMP’s robotic systems, which are helping us weather this crisis. We’re fully operational and can handle the heavier volumes of recyclables driven by shelter-in-place orders and rapidly changing consumer behavior. We’re meeting the increased demand for paper and cardboard while protecting our employees and controlling costs.”