This Fruit Ninja inspired robotic arm can help generate $24 million in added revenue for waste facilities

There are countless necessary but undesirable jobs around. One always dreams about machines to make those tasks a little bit easier.

A startup called Jodone is using gaming technology to do just that. At a waste-to-energy facility at Minnesota humans will no longer sort through trash and pick out recyclable materials by hand. Robotic arms have come to the rescue, it will grab valuable waste and place it in a designated bin.

These are not fully automated though. Human workers giude these robotic arms.

The click and swipe process used by Jodone was apparently inspired by Fruit Ninja, a popular touch-screen game in which players use their fingers to slice up digital fruits.

Jodone cofounder and CEO, Cole Parker, says the exercise allows workers to stay engaged without really dirtying their hands. “People like solving puzzles,” he told MIT Technology Review, “they like being mentally challenged.” Parker hopes it can help generate $24 million in added revenue for waste facilities.

(Image credits: cnn)