Working team engaged in prototype design
Grycle’s first steps
From then on it was all a gamble. Edoardo formed a company (Grycle to be exact) and found an initial investor who financed his digitised prototype: an AI capable of sorting all materials (excluding organic) in a timely manner.
The operation is quick and straightforward: undifferentiated waste passes under sensors that recognize its origin and, therefore, sort it taking colour into account.
The idea is to see, in the future, such a project in the homes of every person in the world. Utopically, Edoardo reveals, it should be next to the refrigerator. To date, however, there is only a laboratory-tested prototype because a lot of financial funds and years of development are still needed to have a working and perfectly tested system in the home environment.
In this regard, Grycle carried out a crowdfunding campaign in the past for the purpose of launching on the market with satisfactory results. However, the funds were not sufficient.
The current hope is that the idea will take root abroad, where indeed Grycle has never gone with full conviction. The ambition, Edoardo explains, is to forge important partnerships with like-minded entities that already have a product and an audience. At that point, Grycle’s job would be to implement and improve something existing, working alongside it.
Mechatronic modules involved in waste treatment
Da un’idea al prototipo
Edoardo in principio era perfettamente conscio del risultato cui aspirare eppure persistevano interrogativi su come metterlo in atto. Provò a rivolgersi a terzi per la realizzazione ma il vincolo economico non era indifferente. Così si mise a disegnare in CAD e con l’ausilio di una stampante 3D creò il prototipo a cui aggiunse poi l’elettronica di base.
Fu in quel momento che si unirono a lui altre menti che divennero anche suoi soci. Ad oggi Grycle vanta competenze hardware e di network molto spinte.
Grazie a tale sinergia di forze e intelletti, il risultato è un sistema capace di trattare materiali domestici con grande affidabilità, effettuando una raccolta differenziata esemplare.
From an idea to a prototype
Edoardo in the beginning was fully aware of the result to which he aspired, yet questions persisted about how to put it into action. He tried turning to third parties for implementation but the economic constraint was not indifferent. So he set about designing in CAD and with the help of a 3D printer created the prototype to which he then added the basic electronics.
It was at that time that other minds joined him who also became his partners. To this day, Grycle boasts some very advanced hardware and networking skills.
Thanks to such a synergy of forces and intellects, the result is a system capable of handling household materials with great reliability, performing exemplary recycling.
The designed AI is in fact able to recognize progressively more and more materials thanks to an interface that interacts directly with humans: in fact, the moment a new object is introduced inside, it asks for confirmation of the novelty and then saves it. At that point it is up to us to add an extra bin.
Before reaching such results, Edoardo and his team tested various AI algorithms up to the current one.
Its application would not only be useful in homes but could also have positive repercussions in urban settings: if one thinks of the trucks in charge of garbage collection, these would be activated only when the system recognizes that it is full.
As of today, the small prototype (intended for homes) is finished and requires only funds to be launched on the market; efforts are therefore going on the large one, still in the works but with ample premises as it aims to become a significant breakthrough for tomorrow’s urban centres.
Grycle, the machine that turns undifferentiated waste into raw material granules
Graduated in Journalism, Editorial Culture and Multimedia Communication from the University of Parma, she loves interfacing with new realities. An aspiring traveller, she has a keen eye for ecology and human rights. In Atmosphera Lab she has found a valuable ally to communicate what is closest to her heart.
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