Fast Company Names AMP Robotics’ AI Platform a 2021 World Changing Ideas Finalist

DENVER—The artificial intelligence (AI) platform developed by AMP Robotics Corp. (“AMP”), a pioneer in AI, robotics, and infrastructure for the waste and recycling industry, has been recognized as a finalist in two categories—“AI and Data” and “Best World Changing Idea North America”—of Fast Company’s 2021 World Changing Ideas Awards. The awards honor the businesses, policies, projects, and concepts that are actively engaged and deeply committed to pursuing innovation when it comes to solving health and climate crises, social injustice, or economic inequality.

AMP’s proprietary AI technology applies computer vision and deep learning to guide high-speed robotic sorting systems to precisely identify and differentiate recyclables found in the waste stream by color, size, shape, opacity, consumer brand, and more, storing data about each item it perceives. The company’s technology can recognize and recover material as small as a bottlecap and as unique as a coffee pod from complex material streams so that these recyclables may serve another productive life. 

“Artificial intelligence is our core technology and foundational to our success as a company, so it’s exciting to be recognized for the transformation it’s enabling us to bring to waste and recycling,” said Matanya Horowitz, founder and CEO of AMP Robotics. “Ongoing advancements in AI are creating opportunities to further improve the lifecycle of and recover greater value from recyclables. For instance, our recent introduction of a secondary sortation facility, applying automation enabled by AI, is designed to drive down the cost of recovery while creating high-quality bales of recycled material for resale. And we’re continuing our efforts to develop solutions that bring greater data and transparency to recycling to aid the capture of more recyclables and support producer initiatives to increase recycling rates and create new value streams for materials.” 

Now in its fifth year, the World Changing Ideas Awards showcase 33 winners, more than 400 finalists, and more than 800 honorable mentions—with Health and Wellness and AI & Data among the most popular categories. A panel of Fast Company editors and reporters selected winners and finalists from a pool of more than 4,000 entries across transportation, education, food, politics, technology, and more. Several new categories were added in 2021, including Pandemic Response, Urban Design, and Architecture, and the awards feature entries from across the globe. 

“There is no question our society and planet are facing deeply troubling times. So, it’s important to recognize organizations that are using their ingenuity, impact, design, scalability, and passion to solve these problems,” said Stephanie Mehta, editor-in-chief of Fast Company. “Our journalists, under the leadership of senior editor Morgan Clendaniel, have discovered some of the most groundbreaking projects that have launched since the start of 2020.”

Last month, for the second consecutive year, AMP was named to Forbes AI 50, a list recognizing private, promising North American companies using AI in ways that are fundamental to their operations. CB Insights also named AMP to its annual AI 100, a list of private AI companies spanning 12 countries and driving innovation across 18 industries, for the second straight year. In 2020, Fast Company named AMP one of the World’s Most Innovative Companies and recognized Horowitz as one of its Most Creative People in Business.

About the World Changing Ideas Awards
World Changing Ideas is one of Fast Company’s major annual awards programs and is focused on social good, seeking to elevate finished products and brave concepts that make the world better. A panel of judges from across sectors choose winners, finalists, and honorable mentions based on feasibility and the potential for impact. With the goals of awarding ingenuity and fostering innovation, Fast Company draws attention to ideas with great potential and helps them expand their reach to inspire more people to start working on solving the problems that affect us all.

About AMP Robotics™ Corp.
AMP Robotics is modernizing the world’s recycling infrastructure by applying AI and automation to increase recycling rates and economically recover recyclables reclaimed as raw materials for the global supply chain. The AMP Cortex™ high-speed robotics system automates the identification and sorting of recyclables from mixed material streams. The AMP Neuron™ AI platform continuously trains itself by recognizing different colors, textures, shapes, sizes, patterns, and even brand labels to identify materials and their recyclability. Neuron then guides robots to pick and place the material to be recycled. Designed to run 24/7, all of this happens at superhuman speed with extremely high accuracy. AMP Clarity™ provides data and material characterization on what recyclables are captured and missed, helping recycling businesses and producers maximize recovery. With deployments across North America, Asia, and Europe, AMP’s technology recovers recyclables from municipal collection, precious commodities from electronic scrap, and high-value materials from construction and demolition debris. AMP is made in America with headquarters and manufacturing operations in Colorado.

Media Contact
Carling Spelhaug
carling@amprobotics.com