A Biofueled Renewable Minimally-Critical Biodegradable Easy-to-Disassemble Robotic Manipulator: Initial Design

Making green and digital technologies such as robots relies on critical raw materials (CRMs), which are finite resources. As a consequence, the competition between nations to secure the access to CRMs is expected to increase in the next decades, which potentially could lead to conflicts. Simultaneously, the amount of waste electrical and electronic equipment (WEEE) is expected to increase making its management more challenging. To mitigate the international competition, the dependence on finite resources, and the complexity of WEEE management, this paper reports on the initial design of a robotic manipulator that: first, requires a minimal use of CRMs; second, has motors and links made of hard biodegradable bioplastic, and hence, its main structure is both renewable and unharmful at the end of its life-cycle; third, is easy to disassemble to facilitate repair and re-manufacturing, which reduce the raw material demand and waste generation by extending the robot life-cycle; and fourth, can be powered by biofuels.