Apple has a recycling robot that can recycle pretty much any iPhone to date. The Apple Daisy robot precisely dismantles each and every phone without damaging the internal components. It is an attempt to reduce the carbon footprint of the tech giant and recycle their products.
YouTube creator MrWhoseTheBoss visited the facility where Daisy aka the recycling robot is installed. He was surprised by the time taken to dismantle a phone which happened in a few seconds.
Who is Daisy?
Apple designed Daisy to function as a recycling robot that could speed up the process. Manual recycling of an iPhone is quite time-consuming which is why Apple opted for a robot. However, Daisy isn’t the first one. Apple made two other robots previously, which paved way for Daisy. The earlier units weren’t as fast in recycling phones as Daisy. But like all machines, Apple used the training data to build Daisy. Now, the robot can precisely disassemble an iPhone in 18 seconds.
Why do we need robots like Apple Daisy?
Recycling is a global problem and electronic devices do not recycle easily. If we throw them away, they just end up in a landfill somewhere. Mobile phones and other electronic devices do not decompose and pollute the soil, thereby ruining its fertility.
Apple Daisy is a befitting solution to the recycling problem. The robot is capable of identifying and disintegrating all iPhone models with ease. The demonstration video of MrWhoseTheBoss showcases that there are four stages involved in the recycling process.
Firstly, the robot scans the model of the iPhone to refer to its product manual. Then it freezes the iPhone to -70 degrees Celsius. The freezing process dries out the adhesive which makes it easy to separate the back cover. Then begins the process of unscrewing every nut to separate all the components. Apple Daisy pushes out all the parts onto a conveyer belt. All this happens in just 18 seconds!
Lastly, the workers arrange the components and store them in different bins. Smartphone manufacturers need to focus on the recycling aspect too. Big manufacturers like Samsung can replicate the efforts of Apple and set up recycling units. It is high time that these brands, which push millions of smartphones each year, do something to reduce their carbon footprint.
