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arXiv · 2509.23048

RAISE: A Robot-Assisted Selective Disassembly and Sorting System for End-of-Life Phones

Chang Liu·Badrinath Balasubramaniam·Neal Yancey·Michael Severson·Adam Shine·Philip Bove·Beiwen Li·Xiao Liang·Minghui Zheng
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Abstract

End-of-Life (EoL) phones significantly exacerbate global e-waste challenges due to their high production volumes and short lifecycles. Disassembly is among the most critical processes in EoL phone recycling. However, it relies heavily on human labor due to product variability. Consequently, the manual process is both labor-intensive and time-consuming. In this paper, we propose a low-cost, easily deployable automated and selective disassembly and sorting system for EoL phones, consisting of three subsystems: an adaptive cutting system, a vision-based robotic sorting system, and a battery removal system. The system can process over 120 phones per hour with an average disassembly success rate of 98.9%, efficiently delivering selected high-value components to downstream processing. It provides a reliable and scalable automated solution to the pressing challenge of EoL phone disassembly. Additionally, the automated system can enhance disassembly economics, converting a previously unprofitable process into one that yields a net profit per unit weight of EoL phones.

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Chang Liu, Badrinath Balasubramaniam, Neal Yancey, Michael Severson, Adam Shine, Philip Bove, Beiwen Li, Xiao Liang, Minghui Zheng. 2025-09-27. RAISE: A Robot-Assisted Selective Disassembly and Sorting System for End-of-Life Phones. https://arxiv.org/abs/2509.23048

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