Monday, August 29, 2022
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KUKA extends support to sustainable circular economy. Recycling robot from KUKA extended support to improve sustainable circular economy. The advanced recycling robot is equipped to tackle electrical waste and reduce human impact. A sustainable circular economy depends on recycled electronic consumer goods. But recycling electronic waste can endanger human workers – which makes it an optimal application for robotics and automation. To overcome these challenges, the Irish technology company Votechnik has developed a system based around a KUKA industrial robot.
“As the entire world moves toward a circular economy, Europe leads the way with initiatives such as the Green Deal and the Circular Economy Action Plan. Such initiatives are urgent necessities for circular usage of materials from current products,” Lisa O’Donoghue, founder and CEO of Votechnik.
The Votechnik ALR-4000 processes this electrical waste automatically and disposes of it safely. In the past, many of these products ended up in landfills, which allowed mercury to contaminate the soil and water. An automated process with recycling robots also eliminates the need for human contact with hazardous gases and liquid crystals, as well as the risk of injury – for example, from the broken glass produced during extraction of fluorescent tubes and television screens from LCD devices.
Extracting what’s valuable, enclosing what’s dangerous
At the same time that it minimizes manual labor and risk, the ALR-4000 boosts throughput from five devices per hour with a manual process to 60 with robotic automation. In addition, the machine can work around the clock. “We see technologies like ours leading the way for high-throughput processing that extracts valuable materials from waste products, removes contaminants and captures the hazardous materials in the process,” said Votechnik CEO Lisa O’Donoghue.
Tags: electronic waste, kuka, Recycle, recycling robot, robotic, sustainable circular economy, woodworking and manufacturing, woodworking event, woodworking industry
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