The Faculty of Science 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, mainly those from the footwear industry, which generates a huge amount of waste disposed of inappropriately.
«This project consists of the development of new tools that make it possible to detect damage in used products and a multi-robot system capable of dismantling them and preparing them for their reintroduction into production chains. To this end, the remanufacturing of current products will also be evaluated, offering improvement criteria related to product design and manufacturing systems, which will be included in an Eco design Guide», explains Hélder Araujo, professor at the Department of Electrical and Engineering Engineering. Computers (DEEC) and project coordinator at FCTUC.
«It is about making product repair viable as an alternative to purchasing a new one or disposing of used ones, in a technically and economically viable way», reveals the researcher at the Institute of Systems and Robotics (ISR), adding that the objective is also to contribute to environmental sustainability, thus complying with the requirements established by the European Union in this matter.
The REMAIN project is part of Interreg Sudoe, the Southwest European Territorial Cooperation Program, which supports regional development by co-financing transnational projects through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF).
According to the consortium, «the SUDOE area is made up of many small and medium-sized companies with a low technological level that produces different products in current use and with a short life cycle, mainly due to low cost, repair/renovation difficulties, thus generating a large amount of waste. In this way, the aim is to introduce remanufacturing as part of the business model», he concludes.
The project is led by INESCOP, the footwear technology centre, and the consortium includes the Spanish Federation of Footwear Industries (FICE), 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 Associação Social Proyecto Lázaro España.
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