KIT Develops Robotic Disassembly System for 4.6 Million Industrial Robots as Circular Economy Push Grows
Updated
Updated · Fox News · Aug 17
KIT Develops Robotic Disassembly System for 4.6 Million Industrial Robots as Circular Economy Push Grows
3 articles · Updated · Fox News · Aug 17
Summary
Karlsruhe Institute of Technology built a robotic disassembly system that updates its plan mid-task when damaged machines contain stuck screws, missing parts or layouts that no longer match their original design.
Using CAD models and a probabilistic planning method called a POMDP, the robot tests how parts actually behave, revises its assumptions and chooses alternative tools or routes instead of following a rigid sequence.
In physical tests on an electric motor and an angle grinder, the system switched from unscrewing to milling around a stuck fastener and skipped a screw that was already missing.
Experiments showed deterministic and probabilistic approaches performed similarly on new components, but the adaptive planner dismantled parts faster as the chance of stuck components rose and alternate access paths existed.
The researchers see the technology as a step toward cheaper automated repair and parts recovery, potentially reducing e-waste if manufacturers design products for automated disassembly.