New Apple lab uses robots to rip apart devices for recycling materials

Apple said on Thursday that it will open a “Material Recovery” lab to investigate new techniques using robotics and machine learning to rip apart its devices and recover valuable materials such as copper, aluminum and cobalt.

The 9,000-square-foot lab will be at the same Austin facility as “Daisy,” an Apple-built robot that can now tear apart iPhones at the rate of 1.2 million per year, Reuters reports.

The lab is part of Apple’s broader goal to make all of its products from recycled or renewable materials. Apple has not set a date for when it will reach that goal, though some products such as the MacBook Air already feature aluminum made from melted down iPhones traded in to Apple.