The iBot4CRMs is the new European project featuring INESC TEC, with a clear goal: to recover critical raw materials, e.g., copper and aluminium, from waste. In this sense, the consortium – bringing together 18 partners from eight European countries – will develop robotics solutions (following a human-centred approach) to sort and recover these metals more efficiently, while improving the well-being of workers.
The iBot4CRMs project aims to leverage circularity and increase Europe’s resilience, reducing the dependence on critical raw materials (CRMs). The project focuses on recovering raw materials, e.g., nickel, copper, cobalt or aluminium – which are vital to the production of a wide range of advanced products, namely in the electronics and automotive industries – from waste, through AI.
“Over the next four years, we will develop and validate human-centred digital tools to improve the recovery and recycling of critical raw materials from waste. We believe that AI and robotics can contribute to the circularity and availability of CRMs in Europe, which will impact competitiveness and the ability to provide sustainable technological products,” said Marcelo Petry.
In addition, and according to the INESC TEC researcher, these solutions could make a difference in a sector that is still quite dependent on manual work, with an impact on people’s well-being. “The solutions we will develop will help maximise the recovery of CRMs, and the use of robots and AI will not only make this process more efficient, but will also improve the well-being of workers, since sorting and recovery operations can, in some cases, lead to health-related issues,” he said – also stating that INESC TEC is the entity responsible for coordinating the activities related to the development of robotic solutions for the dismantling, manipulation and separation of CRMs.
To accelerate the use of these solutions, the project plans to run four pilots, with the involvement of four “end users” from the main waste management sectors – car disposal and recycling, urban waste and electric motor recycling. “These entities will actively participate in the project and use the new technologies in real scenarios, to demonstrate the effectiveness of the solutions”, said Marcelo Petry. One of the pilot projects will take place at the Portuguese company Valorsul, where copper and aluminium will be recovered from urban waste streams and from the ashes of incinerated waste.
The other demonstrations will take place at Volt Electric Motors (Turkey), to recover neodymium from electric motors; at the E.K.AN. recycling centre in Greece, to test copper, aluminium, precious metals and neodymium magnets from waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE); and at the Spanish company Ferimet, with the recovery of copper and precious metals from metal scrap.
IBot4CRMs, funded by the European Commission’s Horizon Europe Programme, brings together 18 partners from eight European countries, with a budget of €9.5M. The kick-off meeting of the project took place on January 21 and 22 in Kristiansand, Norway.
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