Scientists are building an AI-powered robot to take apart your old phone

Published February 4, 2022

Print

The Verge quoted Minghui Zheng, assistant professor in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, in a story on efforts create to AI-powered robots to help harvest recycled electronics.

Zheng is leading a $445,000 Department of Energy project to develop software that allows robots to automatically identify different types of smartphones on a recycling line, remove the batteries, and harvest various high-value components.

“There are lots of limitations of robots,” Zheng says. Basic tasks, like using robotic grippers to pull out small components, could be “very challenging,” she says.

Read the story here. The article was reprinted in other news media including MSN.