Automation of disassembly processes of consumer goods

Currently the disassembly of consumer products is mainly done by hand. Only for a few simple products do mechanized processes already exist. Possible automation is obstructed due to the present relatively small numbers and the product diversity. Nevertheless, automation/mechanization must be considered because of reducing the labour costs when large numbers of products became available. In some pilot solutions robot-based methods were introduced to carry out relatively rigid disassembly sequences, confined to a certain product variant of a low “disassembly depth”