Posted to News on 5th Mar 2025, 10:03
Mission Responsible Initiative Explores AI Innovations
RS DesignSpark has been on a collaborative visit to Lion Vision, a Manchester-based AI specialist renowned for its innovative solutions in the waste and recycling industry. The visit aimed to deepen DesignSpark's understanding of machine learning applications and influence a future design challenge using NVIDIA products.
Lion Vision is a Manchester-based AI specialist that has developed vision systems and machine-learning solutions to detect, visualise, and extract hazardous items, like lithium-ion batteries, from waste streams. This technology significantly reduces the environmental impact and safety risks posed by these batteries.
With a vision to educate, influence, promote, and practise engineering responsibility, DesignSpark was keen to learn more about new technology, to inform their global audience of 1.4 million members.
During the visit, Creative Technologist and Chartered Engineer, Jude Pullen, working on behalf of DesignSpark, gained insights into Lion Vision's system, which can analyse over half a million images in a 24-hour period and detect more than 600-cylinder batteries per hour. The system is currently operational at various sites across the UK, including SWEEEP in Kent, where it processes 100 tons of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) daily, detecting approximately 4,500-cylinder batteries each day.
Jude took it back to basics to learn how the system could be trained to detect a certain sweet based on shape and colour and experimented with the effects of high-vis material to enhance the detection phase.
The visit has helped Jude and DesignSpark investigate how machine learning technologies could tackle real-world challenges such as how do we design products better, to be easier to repair, and more sustainable. The insights gained yielded an ingenious concept around battery detection and regulation - inspired by Hi Viz Paint/Jackets - to be suggested to legislators.
Jude will also be working on a future AI/ML design challenge, sponsored by a supplier partnership with NVIDIA, to develop innovative solutions to tackle responsible engineering.
Jude said "Exploring AI and machine learning through fun projects is a fantastic way to spark creativity and discover new possibilities. By getting hands-on with these technologies, we can turn our curiosity into practical skills that have real-world applications. It's all about taking what we learn and using it to make a difference in the industry.''
Richard Hewitson, Chief Executive Officer at Lion Vision, said: "The waste industry is vast, unpredictable, and in urgent need of a technological upgrade. Many plants still rely on manual processes with minimal auditing, but machine learning like Lion Vision's transforms operations by identifying patterns and streamlining workflows, bringing the industry into the 21st century."
