UC joins European project to give used shoes a second life through robotics

The Faculty of Sciences and Technology of the University of Coimbra (FCTUC) is part of the European project REMAIN - Robotic REMAnufacturing of deformable INdustrial Products, which aims to give a second life to manufactured products, especially those from the footwear industry, which generates a huge amount of inadequately discarded waste.

"This project consists of developing new tools for detecting damage in used products and a multi-robot system capable of disassembling them and preparing them for reuse in manufacturing chains", says Hélder Araujo, professor at the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (DEEC) and coordinator of the project at the FCTUC, further adding that the project will also evaluate the re-manufacturability of current products and provide improvement criteria for product design and manufacturing systems, which will be included in an eco-design guide.

"We want to make it possible to repair the product in a technically and economically viable way, as an alternative to buying a new one or disposing of used ones," explains the Institute of Systems and Robotics (ISR) researcher. He adds that the aim is also to contribute to environmental sustainability, thus meeting the requirements set by the European Union in this area.

REMAIN is part of the Interreg Sudoe cooperation programme for South West Europe, which supports regional development through the co-financing of transnational projects by the ERDF (European Regional Development Fund).

According to the consortium, "the Sudoe area is made up of a large number of small and medium-sized enterprises with a low level of technology, which produce various everyday products with a short life cycle, mainly due to their low cost and the difficulty of repairing/recycling them, thus generating a large amount of waste. The aim is to introduce remanufacturing as part of the business model".

The project is led by INESCOP (footwear technology centre). The consortium includes FICE (Federation of the Spanish Footwear Industry), the AIDA-CCI Chamber of Commerce (Portugal), the Universities of Alicante, Clermont Auvergne INP, Coimbra and Zaragoza, as well as the companies Automatic Control Numerical SL and SMA-RTY (France) and the Spanish social organisation Proyecto Lázaro.