Inside Apple’s efforts to build a better recycling robot

Apple's recycling robot, Daisy, can disassemble up to 1.2 million iPhones a year, helping to recover valuable materials and reduce e-waste. The robot, located in Apple's Austin, Texas facilities, uses a combination of imaging and machine learning to identify iPhone models and handle them accordingly. Despite its capabilities, Daisy's impact is still relatively small compared to the 150 million smartphones discarded in 2023. Apple is working to improve Daisy's throughput and adapt the system to handle other products like MacBooks and iPads.

The company has also offered to license its Daisy IP patents for free to other companies to encourage wider adoption of the technology. While Apple has had discussions with competitors, no company has yet taken up the offer. Apple sees Daisy as an ambassador for its recycling efforts and is exploring ways to increase customer engagement and awareness about electronics recycling. The company is also leveraging partnerships with institutions like Carnegie Mellon University and shared learning across its divisions to continually improve and adapt the system.

Key takeaways:

Apple's recycling robot, Daisy, can strip up to 1.2 million iPhones a year, a significant improvement over earlier models, but still a small fraction of the 150 million smartphones discarded in 2023.
Daisy's adaptability has allowed it to continue operating for 7.5 years, longer than anticipated, as tweaks to software and hardware have expanded the number of iPhone models it can handle.
Apple has offered to license its Daisy IP patents for free to other companies, but so far, no one has taken up the offer.
While Daisy represents a start in electronics recycling, much more scaling is needed to have a meaningful impact on the $62 billion in natural resources that were discarded instead of recycled last year.

Inside Apple’s efforts to build a better recycling robot | TechCrunch

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