AI-powered robots assist deal with Europe’s rising e-waste drawback

Photo credit score: Muntaka Chasant, reproduced underneath a CC BY-SA 4.0 license.

By Kaja Šeruga

Just exterior the historic German city of Goslar, a sprawling industrial advanced receives an limitless stream of discarded electronics. On arrival, this digital waste is laboriously ready for recycling. 

Electrocycling GmbH is without doubt one of the largest e-waste recycling services in Europe. Every yr, it processes as much as 80 000 tonnes of digital waste, which is available in all shapes and varieties.

Manual dismantling

Despite a powerful array of equipment, greater than half of the location’s workers manually put together the discarded objects for recycling. They do that by sorting the incoming waste and eradicating batteries, that are a fireplace hazard and a significant problem in e-waste recycling.

“There are more and more devices, they are getting smaller, and they all contain lithium batteries, some of which are permanently installed, soldered or glued in place,” mentioned Hannes Fröhlich, Electrocycling’s managing director. 

“It’s not a dream job, dismantling these appliances every day with hammers and pliers. I think we can do better.”

Some of those tedious duties might be carried out by robots. However, the issue is that each time there’s a change within the product or the method, the {hardware} and software program must be restructured. This could be expensive and time-consuming.

To handle this situation, an EU-funded analysis initiative named ReconCycle has managed to automate the method by creating robots that may reconfigure themselves for various duties. 

New territory for robotics

Researchers from Slovenia, Germany and Italy labored collectively on this situation on the Jožef Stefan Institute, Slovenia’s main analysis facility, from 2020 to 2024.

The staff developed adaptable AI-supported robots which are in a position to take away batteries from smoke detectors and radiator warmth metres.

These two merchandise could be present in most households and are changed each 5 to eight years, creating giant quantities of waste.

“The main challenge is that there are so many different versions of each device. Just think how many different remote controls there are,” mentioned Dr Aleš Ude. He is head of the Department of Automatics, Biocybernetics and Robotics on the Jožef Stefan Institute and coordinates the ReconCycle analysis staff. 

In industrial settings, robots are normally programmed for one particular activity, repeating precisely the identical sequence of actions in a predictable setting. 

Instead, the researchers got down to create a robotic that may adapt to many alternative duties, utilizing state-of-the-art AI. 

“We wanted to expand robotics, introduce robots where there aren’t any yet,” Ude mentioned.

A rising drawback

Working with Electrocycling, Ude’s worldwide analysis staff created an adaptable robotic work cell. This is a workspace that consists of not less than one robotic, its instruments and tools, and its controller.

The novelty right here is that this closed system autonomously adapts itself to numerous duties, with the assistance of advanced AI-driven software program and modular {hardware} that may be shortly reconfigured. It additionally makes use of comfortable parts like SoftHand, a human-like hand that may manipulate objects with nice precision.

There are additionally security options like collaborative robots and emergency cease buttons.

International collaboration was essential in securing the correct experience, mentioned Ude. 

“Robotics is very interdisciplinary, so it’s difficult to find the right partners in one country.” 

Thankfully, the brand new robots are arriving simply on the proper time, as the quantity of e-waste produced yearly continues to develop. Almost 5 million tonnes of e-waste are produced within the EU every year, amounting to about 11 kilograms per individual. Less than 40% of that’s recycled, the European Parliament has warned. 

Globally, round 62 million tonnes of e-waste have been produced in 2022 alone, sufficient to fill 1.5 million 40-tonne vans, in keeping with UN information. Even extra worryingly, the quantity of e-waste is rising 5 occasions sooner than the quantity that’s being recycled.

The EU is working to cut back e-waste via the Waste from Electrical and Electronic Equipment Directive, which units the requirements for assortment and recycling. 

The work of Ude’s staff can be aligned with the EU’s digital technique, which inspires the usage of AI in manufacturing to enhance effectivity and assist obtain local weather neutrality by 2050.

Throwing away cash

E-waste additionally has critical financial implications. An estimated €84 billion is misplaced every year when precious metals like copper, iron and gold are discarded as an alternative of being reused, in keeping with the UN’s world e-waste monitor. 

At Electrocycling, 80% of the e-waste is recovered as uncooked supplies, corresponding to iron, zinc, gold, silver and palladium – some 35 supplies in all.

“People need to understand that this is not just waste, but also raw materials that need to be recycled and kept in circulation, both for economic efficiency and a reduction of CO2,” mentioned Fröhlich. 

New expertise could make it much more environment friendly, and Fröhlich sees lots of potential in it. 

“I was surprised by how far the technology and AI have already come,” he mentioned. “They even recreated a human hand for the robot.”

Ude hopes to proceed working with Electrocycling to enhance e-waste options additional. The hope can be that adaptable robots which may deal with altering environments can have functions far past e-waste recycling. 

Given extra time and growth, these robots may even deal with normal housekeeping, or assist carers in senior houses, mentioned Ude. 

“Robotics could be of great help in such areas.”

This article was initially printed in Horizon, the EU Research and Innovation journal.