They don't take lunch breaks: Rise of the robots

More industries seeking help from automation to fill workforce crunch

Robots sort through recycled material at Millennium Recycling on Dec. 12, 2023. The robots are searching for plastic bags, which pose a safety hazard. (Jonathan Ellis/The Dakota Scout)

For years, Millennium Recycling in Sioux Falls has struggled to find workers. That struggle only got worse as the state unemployment rate dipped below 2 percent.

So earlier this year, the company went in on a new type of worker: Robots.

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After months of fine tuning, the pair of robots went to work full time on Nov. 15 – America Recycles Day. During their fine-tuning period, the robots used artificial intelligence to learn how to spot plastic bags on the conveyor belt that takes materials through Millennium’s elaborate sorting equipment.

First they started with black plastic bags – the robots had to learn to differentiate the bags from black wine boxes. Then they moved on to learning how to spot different types of plastic bags. Those bags have to be intercepted and diverted before they end up in Millennium’s sorting equipment, where they can wrap around equipment, causing damage and safety problems for Millennium’s workers.

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