Inescop brings robotics applied to footwear remanufacturing to SIMAC
Inescop will be attending SIMAC Tanning Tech in Milan from 15 to 17 September to showcase one of the main outcomes of the European REMAIN project: a robotic cell developed to advance the automation of footwear remanufacturing processes. Visitors will be able to see the demonstrator in Hall 14, Stand E48/F47.
Giving a shoe a second life involves much more than simply repairing it. Its condition needs to be assessed, damage caused during use identified, the parts that can be recovered determined, and the operations required to return it to the production chain established.
This is one of the challenges addressed by REMAIN (Robotic REMAnufacturing of deformable Industrial products), a project coordinated by INESCOP and co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Interreg Sudoe Programme. Its aim is to demonstrate that remanufacturing can become a viable alternative to discarding consumer products, particularly in sectors such as footwear and textiles.
Intelligent robotics to give footwear a second life
Unlike other industrial products, automating the remanufacturing of footwear means dealing with products that are deformable, made from multiple materials, bonded with adhesives and subject to a wide variety of types of damage resulting from use.
To address this challenge, REMAIN has worked on technologies capable of detecting and assessing damage using computer vision and artificial intelligence, incorporating tactile perception, and using robotic systems to carry out disassembly operations.
The result of this work is the multi-robot cell that Inescop will showcase at SIMAC, bringing together several of the technologies developed within the project. Specifically, the demonstrator can identify and locate areas where parts of the footwear have become detached and, based on this information, calculate the appropriate gripping point so that two robots can work together to perform the controlled removal of the sole.
This prepares the product for subsequent repair or remanufacturing operations that can extend its useful life or, when this is no longer possible, facilitate recycling. The technology developed therefore opens up new possibilities for moving away from a model based on producing, using and discarding products towards one in which repair and remanufacturing can become part of the footwear value chain.
A European project to promote industrial remanufacturing
The development of REMAIN has benn made possible through the joint efforts of a European consortium coordinated by Inescop and comprising the Universities of Zaragoza, Alicante and Coimbra, as well as Clermont Auvergne INP; the Spanish Footwear Industries Federation (FICE); industrial partners SMA-RTY y Automática y Control Numérico (ACN); and the AIDA CCI Chamber of Commerce, with the collaboration of the social organisation Proyecto Lázaro.
The project is co-funded by the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF) through the Interreg Sudoe Programme, project reference S1/1.1/E0111.
Want to see how the technology developed in REMAIN works?