How Robots Will Dismantle All Our Products

Can robotics make large-scale disassembly a reality for the circular economy?

Automated disassembly is emerging as a key enabler for circular strategies such as repair, remanufacturing, and high-quality recycling. But turning this vision into scalable practice requires technical integration, economic viability, and alignment across industries.

In this episode, speakers from robotics, recycling, and research explore how automation technologies can extend product lifecycles, reduce waste, and unlock new efficiencies in resource use.

Recorded live at the CIRCULAR REPUBLIC FESTIVAL 2025, the panel brought together Fridolin Franke from SOLAR MATERIALS, Rebecca Zhu from Circu Li-ion, Tobias Ortmaier from voraus robotik, and José Saenz from Fraunhofer IFF to discuss the role of robotics in enabling circularity through disassembly.

This episode is part of our CIRCULAR REPUBLIC FESTIVAL 2025 series, created in partnership with CIRCULAR REPUBLIC to bring you the key debates and insights from this year’s festival.

People
Fridolin Franke, Co-Founder, Business Development, Operations and Finance
https://www.linkedin.com/in/fridolin-franke/
Rebecca Zhu, Head of Growth
https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccayzhu/
Tobias Ortmaier, Co-Founder
https://www.linkedin.com/in/tobias-ortmaier/
José Saenz, Group Manager Assistance, Service and Industrial Robots
https://www.linkedin.com/in/jose-saenz-1826876/

About
The Circular Republic Festival is Europe’s leading event for advancing the circular economy, uniting corporates, start-ups, and innovators driving this transformation. The last edition took place on May 2025, at the Munich Urban Colab. The festival offers diverse formats to explore practical solutions and best practices for implementing circular economy principles. This year’s theme, “Build Your Competitive Advantage,” focused on the strategic and economic benefits of transitioning to circular business models, while also highlighting the ecological impact of this transformation.

Further Links
https://www.circular-republic.org/

One-page Summary
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