Currently, TES receives a large amount of electrical and electronic equipment in their original packing in pallets or boxes. These pallets need to be unpacked and sorted into unique waste streams.
Some unique products will then have to be further de-manufactured, disassembled or dismantled into their individual components materials which may involve the removal of casings, screws, etc.
The current process is manual and labour intensive, and therefore time consuming, costly and error prone. The effectiveness and efficiency are also currently heavily dependent on the competence and capability of individuals.
Objectives:
TES would like to explore automating whole or part of the current process to improve efficiency. As there is a broad range of non-homogenous packaging, materials and products received, they are looking to define a standard process for this.
TES has identified some potential solutions to this problem.
- Can the unpacking process use robotics to unpack and de-box?
- Can the unpacked materials and products be automatically sorted based on material type, and value? Consulting up to date pricing of the materials would increase value recovery.
- Can robotics and artificial intelligence be used during the de-manufacture process?
- Can we also use robotics to manage sortation of the packaging materials?
- Since removing screws from cases and interior is one of the most common de-manufacturing tasks, could a robotic system be developed that identifies the screws and removes them?
