Orange Sparkle Ball was awarded a Real World Deployment Grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation's Office of Future Mobility and Electrification. This grant is enabling us to put our Autonomous Robotic Pickup Platform into action through a series of pilots in the Transportation Innovation Zone of Detroit, established by the Office of Mobility Innovation at The City of Detroit.

ON ORANGE SPARKLE BALL & PARTNERS

Who is Orange Sparkle Ball?
Orange Sparkle Ball is an innovation and impact accelerator focused on moving public and private organizations’ initiatives forward.
What is Orange Sparkle Ball’s role in this project?
Orange Sparkle Ball is creating a civic tech platform to provide more efficient city infrastructure services. To do this, we’re conducting a series of pilots with different technology and community partners. This is not about any one technology partner or startup but about understanding how the technology itself can solve civic infrastructure problems. We know that autonomous ground robot technology is ready for field testing. It’s just that the use cases - in other words, where the technology has been deployed - have focused on mostly delivering goods, not on civic infrastructure. We are changing that, not by focusing on any one startup specifically, but by focusing on the promise of the technology sector. As a society, we really don’t care what brand of truck Amazon uses for deliveries, but we do care that they are successfully delivering our packages.
The outcome of these pilots will be a pickup platform (powered by Orange Sparkle Ball). This will be an online service where you can hail a robot to pick up household materials for the correct end-of-life processing including disposal, recycling, reuse, or donation. We plan to partner with residences and businesses to understand the needs of the community, as well as with organizations dedicated to specialty processing to understand proper logistics and the value chain.
Who are the technology and community partners for these pilots?
Orange Sparkle Ball is partnering with local Detroit businesses and startups as well as autonomous technology startups to pilot what zero emissions pickup could look like for the neighborhoods of Detroit.
Who is providing the technology, software, robotic equipment, etc.?
Orange Sparkle Ball will not provide the technology, but we have several technology partners, including Ottonomy, Intermode, and Refraction. We will work to understand how the technology can be used in a pick-up platform with the goal of building a civic tech pick-up platform that will serve city infrastructure needs while providing a viable end-of-life solution for commonly discarded products.
How is Orange Sparkle Ball engaging with participating residents and businesses?
For community partners, we've been engaging with local startups and businesses who have existing operations collecting end-of-life materials (such as food waste, non-traditional recyclables, etc.) that could benefit from leveraging robotic pickup to streamline their operations. We're currently engaged with Scrap Soils and Brother Nature Farm for our first pilot surrounding the pickup of food waste.
To recruit interested participants for the pilots, we're working with local neighborhood associations and community groups.
How is Orange Sparkle Ball engaging with the city of Detroit?
For permitting, we've been working with the City of Detroit's Office of Mobility Innovation to pilot in the Transportation Innovation Zone.

On the Autonomous Robotic Pickup Platform

Did Orange Sparkle Ball receive a grant from the state of Michigan to go forward with this project?
Orange Sparkle Ball was awarded a Real World Deployment Grant from the Michigan Economic Development Corporation's Office of Future Mobility and Electrification. This grant is enabling us to put our Autonomous Robotic Pickup Platform into action through a series of pilots in the Transportation Innovation Zone of Detroit, established by the Office of Mobility Innovation at The City of Detroit.
Where is this operational?
For permitting, we've been working with the City of Detroit's Office of Mobility Innovation to pilot in the Transportation Innovation Zone. Our first pilot will be in North Corktown where autonomous ground robots will navigate designated routes in the North Corktown neighborhood of Detroit to pick up food waste for composting. We hope to expand to other areas of Detroit as we continue to iteratively pilot this solution.
When is this going on?
We will be launching a series of pilots beginning in June and operating through early November.
What kinds of materials does the robot take?
Long-term, we intend for the robot to take a wide variety of non-traditional recyclables and specialty waste including but not limited to food waste, electronic waste, batteries, paint, metal scraps, waste oil, etc. Our first pilot will explore the pickup of food waste for composting.
What are the goals of these pilots?
Our goals for this platform will be to understand the long-term logistics and market for the autonomous pickup of materials as well as the overall benefit this platform could provide to the city of Detroit. Our 3 primary objectives are:
- ITERATIVE PILOTS: Iteratively conduct pilots to test multiple use cases to build a sustainable, comprehensive pickup platform.
- LOGISTICS OF PICKUP: Understand the process and complexities associated with pickup of various types of end-of-life materials.
- CAPTURED MARKET: Understand community benefit and interest for each selected use case and how compounded offerings could influence platform use.
What kind of metrics are being measured?

Number of users
Total volume of materials picked up over the course of the pilots
Number of offerings on the platform
Acceptability of the platform by users
Platform use across demographically diverse neighborhoods

On Pilot 1 - Robot Food Waste Pickup

What is the first pilot being launched as a part of the Autonomous Robotic Pickup Platform?
This pilot is the first step in a larger initiative exploring the potential of autonomous ground robots for managing end-of-life materials, paving the way for a more sustainable waste management ecosystem. Read more about our Autonomous Robotic Pickup Platform here.
How do I participate?
Fill out this interest form: [LINK]

On Robots

Are the robots safe?
The robots are equipped with extensive safety features including automatic stop, dynamic obstacle detection, and more. For the pilots, the robots are being dual-monitored, both remotely and in-person. In the event the robot needs assistance or recovery, there is someone on-site to assist it.
Will the robot go into the road?
Robot partners will be optimized for sidewalks and will avoid busy roadways. In certain situations where sidewalks are unnavigable, the robot will utilize bike lanes and road shoulders.
Does the robot have cameras / is the robot recording me?
Footage around the bots is captured to improve routing, train the system, and improve guest experience. Data will be deleted at the conclusion of the pilot.
What happens if something happens to the bot?
For the pilots, the robots are being dual-monitored, both remotely and in-person. In the event the robot needs assistance or recovery, there is someone on-site to assist it.

On Involvement

What is expected of pilot participants?

1 month of participation with pickups occurring once per week
Collect materials throughout the week/month
Select time slot where you’ll be available to load your materials into the robot

I’m a local business that collects materials for refurbishing, repurposing, or recycling - How can I get involved?
Please reach out to hannah@orangesparkleball.com if you are interested in partnering with us on a robotic pickup pilot.

For more information, we will be continuously adding to this page on our website as the platform progresses.

Written by Hannah Ranieri, Innovation Strategist