99% of household waste is sorted, revolutionizing resource circulation at AETECH
To recycle waste, it must go through a sorting process. The typical method is for people to manually pick out the waste, but only 30% of the incoming household waste is processed. Aetech, which received the 'InnoBiz certification' as a technology innovation small and medium-sized enterprise last year, just three years after its founding, is a company that has drastically improved the method of separating and collecting household waste using robots.
Aetech has developed the first AI-based waste sorting robot, 'Atron,' and is supplying it to local autonomous bodies and others. Park Tae-hyung, the representative of Aetech (pictured), emphasized on the 12th, 'Atron can increase the waste sorting speed by 240% compared to existing manpower and reduce the sorting costs by 266%, contributing to proper resource circulation.'
Atron has learned data of more than 2.6 million actual waste sorting facility household waste. The recognition accuracy reaches 99%. It can perform over 96 rapid operations per minute with a straw-shaped suction device. Through algorithm learning, it distinguishes a total of 45 types of waste by color and material. It can also sort difficult-to-distinguish PET bottles and polyethylene (PE) using algorithms and near-infrared spectrum analysis using hyperspectral cameras.
Aetech has supplied about 10 Atrons to Incheon Namdong-gu, Gyeonggi Namyangju, Seongnam, Gyeongbuk Cheongdo-gun, etc. It is also scheduled to be installed in Songpa-gu, Seoul this year. It plans additional orders in the form of private investment proposals targeting outdated facilities among the approximately 250 public sorting facilities in the country. It is also pursuing exports to countries such as Singapore and Hong Kong, where there is high demand for recycling due to limited land area. In Incheon's Gyeongseo-dong, it is pushing for the construction of an 'unmanned robot resource recovery center,' which can raise the waste recycling rate to 80% by installing about 20 Atrons. The goal is to start the pilot operation in the second half of this year.
President Park explained, “We plan to enter the production of high-purity waste plastic raw materials, r-PET, through the robot resource recovery center. As the use of waste plastic increases, we can also significantly reduce carbon emissions.”
Lee Way, middle market reporter | leeway@hankyung.com