Intelligent Disassembly of Electronics for Remanufacturing and Recycling (iDEAR Project)

We’re making electronics consumption more sustainable through improved recycling

Technological progress is causing electronics to age rapidly. Their short lifespan—often only a few months or years—is generating both a constantly growing demand for finite raw materials as well as a growing mountain of electronic waste.

This is a global problem. Nearly 54 million tons of e-waste were produced worldwide in 2019. Global e-waste production could reach 74 million tons a year by 2030. Only a fraction of all electronics is recycled. A majority, over 80 percent, of e-waste ends up in landfills or incinerators. And with it the materials inside: Valuable precious metals or rare earths go to waste. Hazardous chemicals and pollutants can be released into the environment.

A small of e-waste is disassembled by hand. High costs and the growing labor shortage are making this increasingly unattractive, though.

In the iDEAR project, we are developing solutions for efficient electronics disassembly and for material recycling and reuse. We want to ensure that raw materials are not wasted and that valuable resources are kept in circulation longer. This creates a circular economy, which is fundamental to sustainable consumption.

With the iDEAR project, we are solving the challenge of recovering valuable materials from electronic waste

As their lifespans grow shorter and global demand for them increases, electronics are simultaneously becoming more complex and customized. They contain a wider range of materials and the variety of products is virtually boundless. This is compounded by the many uncertainties of the disassembly of used goods. Screws can be rusted, screw heads stripped, components warped or damaged or even missing entirely. Small and compact electronic devices in particular are usually not designed for nondestructive disassembly either. Their assemblies comprise composites joined to each other by screws, levers, clips or adhesives that make them difficult to take apart.

The recovery of materials from electronics is not only environmentally sound but also economically expedient. Electronic components (circuit boards, contacts, switches) contain precious metals, such as gold, silver, platinum and palladium. So-called rare earths can be found in magnets, batteries and displays. Recycling is particularly worthwhile here since, often only small amounts rare earths are available worldwide. This makes mining them difficult and the metals expensive. They are indispensable for the manufacture of many high-tech products, though. Lithium is an important part of lithium-ion batteries, which are used in many electronic devices, such as smartphones and laptops. Copper and aluminum are also frequently built into electronic devices, for instance, in cables and connectors or heat sinks and frames. In virtually every case, metals recycling always requires less energy than virgin raw material mining and processing.

The recovery of all these materials consequently not only reduces the environmental impact of electronic waste but also of raw material mining and constitutes a valuable source of raw materials for new products.

The better the individual materials are separated from each other during disassembly, the better they can be reused as secondary raw materials and the less energy is required for any particular recycling process. The very few specialized systems currently able to disassemble a very limited number of products automatically require substantial engineering.

In the iDEAR project, we are developing solutions for the intelligent disassembly of electronics for remanufacturing and recycling. We are developing processes for orderly, formal recycling using advanced automation technologies with which valuable materials can be recovered and reused efficiently, making the future of the electronics industry more sustainable.

We are improving the electronics recycling process and increasing the efficiency, precision and reliability of disassembly operations

We have combined metrology, robotics and artificial intelligence into an intelligent system for automated and non-destructive disassembly processes—the basis for a certifiable, closed-loop waste management system.

• Automated identification of assemblies: High-precision 3D cameras and optical sensor systems scan labels, product numbers, components and fasteners. Machine learning algorithms and artificial intelligence analyze the sensor data, identify materials and assess components’ condition.
• Individual assessment and digital disassembly planning: Every device is examined separately. Disassembly plans that specify the optimal sequence are generated based on the data obtained. These sequences can be flexibly modified for different product types.
• Robotic disassembly: Robot systems’ high precision and speed during disassembly improve material and component recovery. Rationalized robotic material extraction and recovery processes save time, money and resources over conventional disassembly. The focus is on reducing the engineering required to program the robots. A specially developed robot uses adaptive motion strategies to remove parts. The combination of reinforcement learning and imitation learning makes it possible to execute complex actions, such as removing motherboards from computer housings, precisely and efficiently.
• Data-based knowledge platform: A “disassembly hub” saves empirical values and process data in a digital asset administration shell. This makes it possible to optimize and transfer disassembly processes to other classes of devices.
• Business models, ecosystems and supply chains: We analyze the life cycle of e-waste from collection to recycling to improve the transparency of e-waste streams. We additionally study the energy aspects of recycling to recover energy from waste materials that cannot be reused in new products as efficiently as possible.

First results and milestones of automated disassembly

In the first step, disassembly tests were successfully performed on computers. The device’s geometry, material and fasteners were identified precisely and the robot performed the disassembly processes precisely. The findings obtained will be used to refine the methods intended to be transferrable to larger electronic equipment in the future as well.

Objectives and next steps

The next project milestone is the integration of all subprocesses in one demonstrator that interconnects automated disassembly processes. This is intended to demonstrate the interaction of automation and AI decision-making in practice. In the future, the technologies developed will be tested in real-world industrial environments and optimized further for different classes of products.

Our contribution to the circular economy

Our iDEAR project adheres to the UN's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Specifically, our research meets the Sustainable Development Goals 12, Responsible consumption and production, and 8, Decent work and economic growth.

Expected project outcomes

• Prototype system for the automated disassembly of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE), which integrates all our technological developments. It will present the interconnection of manual and automated disassembly processes.