Nov 18, 2014 |
Robots put to work on e-waste (w/video)
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(Nanowerk News) University of New South Wales (UNSW) researchers have programmed industrial robots to tackle the vast array of e-waste thrown out by Australians every year.
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The research shows robots can learn and memorise how various electronic products are designed, enabling them to be disassembled for recycling at ever-increasing speeds.
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It is a joint project by researchers at the School of Mechanical and Manufacturing Engineering’s Sustainable Manufacturing and Life Cycle Engineering Research Group (SMLCE) and the School of Computer Science and Engineering.
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(L-R) Dr Supachai Vongbunyong, Wei Hua Chen, Professor Sami Kara.
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“There are millions of end-of-life products that we don’t know how to disassemble, despite legislation that tells us to do so,” SMLCE founder and project leader Professor Sami Kara says.
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“The biggest problem is uncertainty – the number of different products coming into e-recycling centres and their condition.”
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While humans can deal with product variety, it is still labour-intensive and costly to break down products one-by-one.
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It is also potentially hazardous owing to the risk of exposure to toxic materials used in electronics.
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The researchers now believe they can automate the entire process with cognitive robotics.
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“We’ve successfully proven that you can teach a robot to disassemble LCD screens,” Professor Kara says.
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“They break one or two but then they learn and they don't make the same mistake again.
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“The idea is to remove the display and printed circuit board without damaging them because the rest can be recycled.”
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Although the robot took some time to dismantle a screen it had never worked with before, “the next time a similar model comes in it only takes minutes.”
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With the concept proven in the lab, the next phase is likely to involve industry trials.
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Professor Kara also sees room to incorporate additional industrial robots into the set-up to handle e-waste as it loaded or unloaded from the robot performing disassembly.
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“I'd like to look into using another robot for materials handling purposes,” he says.
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“You could isolate them in a cubicle, dump the screens in and have them work 24x7 non-stop.”
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It is believed similar techniques could be used to recycle lithium batteries, which can be volatile to disassemble
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