Terex Materials Processing (Terex MP), a subsidiary of the US-headed manufacturer of materials processing machinery and aerial work platforms, Terex Corporation, has acquired the assets of ZenRobotics Oy, a Finnish company that designs and creates robots that pick, sort, and recycle waste material.
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Based in Helsinki, ZenRobotics is a global leader in smart robotic recycling. Its robots, powered by proprietary artificial intelligence (AI) software, make recycling more efficient, accurate, and profitable.
The company’s ambition is to make the circular economy a reality by turning global waste into clean raw materials. The goal is to help its customers extract higher value out of waste, get more actionable data, and reach ambitious circular economy targets.
ZenRobotics is an exciting, modern company that lends itself perfectly to our pre-existing environmental expertise, and their ethos of making a circular economy more possible aligns perfectly with our goals and targets for the future of Terex MP, said Tony Devlin who leads the Terex MP environmental businesses.
Automating the waste industry
ZenRobotics was started in 2007 by creating a completely new market for robotic waste sorting. Today, it continues to automate the waste industry.
With ZenRobotics technology, operators can upgrade their recycling infrastructure to meet modern requirements and lead the way towards a more efficient, circular future.
In 2009, ZenRobotics pioneered the use of AI-based robots in the waste-sorting process. This led the team to open opportunities by introducing the first ZenRobotics Recycler in Helsinki.
Since that time, it has become a global operation, marketing multiple recyclers around the world including expansion into China and the US market in 2016.
Terex MP is already active within global waste markets through Terex Ecotec, Terex CBI, Terex Fuchs, and Terex Recycling Systems.
ZenRobotics will add to the Terex portfolio in global waste, where it will continue to be operated as a stand-alone business while also benefiting from Terex MP’s broader market presence and from efficiencies enabled by Terex MP’s global scale.
This acquisition, the value of which has not been disclosed, of a highly “green-focused” company further supports Terex MP’s commitment to its environmental business and Environment, Social, and Governance (ESG) goals.
We’re excited to see the many ways that we can apply this technology and what potential this acquisition can bring Terex MP with the application of this technology. The journey that we’re about to begin with ZenRobotics and Terex MP is one that we look forward to starting, and we extend a warm welcome to our new colleagues on the Terex MP team, Tony Devlin said.
Growth opportunities
Launched in 2015, the Heavy Picker is a multipurpose waste sorting robot for heavy, bulky material such as construction and demolition (C&D) type waste.
Equipped with sturdy arms, various sensors, and AI, it provides a simple, unstaffed sorting process and makes waste sorting more accurate, safe, and profitable.
The Fast Picker is a high-speed waste sorting robot for maximizing material recovery. It is compactly designed for easy integration into existing processes and conveyors in material recovery facilities (MRFs), and it increases profits by enabling fully automated sorting and higher output purity.
The ZenBrain is the AI for sorting robots with advanced recognition ability and autonomous decision-making. This technology provides actionable data and a steep learning curve in optimizing waste sorting efficiency.
We at ZenRobotics are delighted to be welcomed into the Terex MP team and we look forward to sharing our knowledge. As a company, we have worked hard for the past 15 years creating technology that helps companies efficiently deal with different types of waste materials, helping to chase down targets that propel us toward a more circular economy. Terex MP is the perfect partner to help us achieve that, and being part of the Terex MP team will give ZenRobotics more global opportunities to grow, said Jarmo Ruohonen, CEO of ZenRobotics.