AWARD YEAR
2017
CATEGORY
Work
GOALS
Responsible Consumption & Production
KEYWORDS
smartphones, recycling, Materials
COUNTRY
United States of America
DESIGNED BY
Apple
WEBSITE
http://www.apple.com/dk/recycling/
Liam
A robot with 29 arms that tears down iPhones for reuse.
Liam is a large-scale robot, with 29 freestanding robotic arms at various skill stations. But while most assembly-line robots help put together products you'll one day hold in your hands, Liam is hard at work disassembling your ruined, returned iPhones.
The iPhone 6S users who trade in their devices at Apple retail stores probably aren't aware of what happens next, either. The iPhones — the majority of which have suffered from liquid damage, like a drop in the toilet — are shipped to one of two distribution centers in the United States. After manual inspection, devices with salvageable components are shipped to Apple’s mystery warehouse so Liam can give them a more productive afterlife.