ALPHA uses hyperspectral imaging to scan and identify waste items, even when they are dirty or incomplete. Once identified, the robot can physically pick up and place each item into the appropriate recycling stream, while logging data about the material and product type, providing a level of visibility that would be impossible to achieve manually. The robots are guided by cloud-based command architecture: Rather than having all processors run on individual robots, ALPHA is cloud-connected, with heavy computation happening offboard. Compute Engine provides the high-performance GPU infrastructure required to process hyperspectral imaging data, run real-time classification models, and execute remote inference across multiple sites. "The power of ALPHA lies in its ability to learn and adapt, which is only possible because it's cloud-based," says Costa. "With Google Cloud, we can process vast amounts of imaging data offboard and remotely train ALPHA to recognize local recycling standards and product variations. That level of adaptability wouldn't be feasible without a robust cloud infrastructure."

ALPHA robots and their supporting systems generate considerable amounts of data from several different sources, including hyperspectral vision data, robotic movement logs, and conveyor belt camera streams. This all adds up to a total of over 49 terabytes of structured and unstructured data centralized and stored using Google Cloud Storage. "ALPHA captures over 6 megabytes of imaging data every second. We rely on Google Cloud to centralize and manage the full data stream from all our systems, from hyperspectral cameras to robot logs. Without that infrastructure, the entire safety and intelligence layer would break down," Costa explains.

TeknTrash currently has three active deployments: VR headsets, hyperspectral cameras, and conveyor belt monitoring systems, with all three solutions feeding data to the cloud for training, analysis, and operational benchmarking. A full deployment across multiple sites run by London-based waste management company Sharp Group is planned by the end of this year. This will serve both as a proof of concept and as a foundation for future rollouts across up to 1,000 recycling plants in the United Kingdom and Europe. 

"Scalability is built into our modus operandi, and that's why our partnership with Google Cloud is so instrumental," Costa explains. "We need powerful servers — and that's where Google Cloud delivers. Deploying or deleting a server and starting fresh is really easy. With a thousand robots across just as many plants, without it we would be spending all our time setting up infrastructure."