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Apple Unveils Liam, An iPhone Recycling Robot That Salvages Parts (inhabitat.com)

MikeChino writes from an article on Inhabitat: There are around one billion Apple devices in use, and with that comes "significant responsibility," according to Apple CEO Tim Cook. That's why Apple just unveiled Liam, a robot that quickly and efficiently disassembles old iPhones so that their components can be reused for other products (like solar panels).
According to the Inhabitat, "The robot takes apart old iPhones, removing each component and extracting metals like lithium, so that the parts can be reused and your phone 'can live on.'" TechCrunch notes that Liam specifically rescues cobalt and lithium from the battery, gold and copper from the camera, silver and platinum from the logic board and the aluminum enclosure, as well.

1 of 70 comments (clear)

  1. My Cynicism may be showing... by Rob+from+RPI · · Score: 4, Insightful

    but isn't this an extremely handy way to remove old, but functioning, phones from the second hand market?

    Sorry kids, your'e not getting Mum's perfectly good phone, because we're giving it to the bot that will smash it. But we'll buy you an new iPad instead.