Claw instead of suction: Scottish start-up Danu builds AI waste-sorting robot
The H.E.R.O. robot from Edinburgh picks recyclables off the belt with a pincer and keeps improving through AI. The start-up has raised $5 million.
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Edinburgh-based start-up Danu Robotics has spent six years developing a robot that sorts waste at recycling facilities. Founder Amy Ma previously worked as a software developer at a London bank, where she noticed that separately collected waste ended up in the same place. "I saw the technology and thought, we can do so much better," she told US tech site TechCrunch.
The robot, called H.E.R.O., picks up items with a pincer claw rather than the suction used by rival systems. Danu continuously improves its software with AI. The aim is to make the device sturdier, smaller and more versatile so it can also work as a stand-alone solution in places such as shopping centres, hospitals or airports.
Danu has raised $5 million in late-seed funding and says it has signed contracts worth $500,000, with more than 200 prospective customers in its pipeline. The company will present at the TechCrunch Disrupt start-up conference in San Francisco from 13 to 15 October.