Terex Materials Processing (MP) has acquired the assets of ZenRobotics Ltd., a company that designs and creates robots that pick, sort, and recycle waste material. Its robots, powered by proprietary 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.
ZenRobotics, based in Helsinki, Finland, will retain its name and become a Terex brand, with the unit reporting to Tony Devlin, who leads the Terex MP environmental businesses.
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 and become more efficient.
In 2009, ZenRobotics started to use 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 U.S. market in 2016. In 2015, ZenRobotics launched the Heavy Picker, a waste sorting robot for bulky construction and demolition (C&D) type waste.
ZenRobotics' goal is to help recyclers extract higher value out of waste, get more actionable data, and reach ambitious circular economy targets. Terex is already active within global waste markets through Terex Ecotec, Terex CBI, Terex Fuchs, and Terex Recycling. Zen Robotics 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 MP's broader market presence and from efficiencies enabled by MP's global scale.
"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," says Devlin. "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 into the Terex MP team."
"We at ZenRobotics are delighted to be welcomed into the Terex MP team and we look forward to sharing our knowledge," says Jarmo Ruohonen, CEO of ZenRobotics. "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 towards 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."
