Inescop will be present at SIMAC Tanning Tech in Milan from 15 to 17 September to showcase one of the main results 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. It is necessary to assess its condition, identify damage caused during use, determine which parts can be recovered and establish the operations required to reintroduce it into the production chain.
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.
Smart robotics to give footwear a second life
Unlike other industrial products, automating the remanufacturing of footwear means dealing with a deformable, multi-material product whose components are bonded using adhesives, making disassembly more difficult, as well as with the wide variety of damage resulting from use.
To address this challenge, REMAIN has worked on technologies that make it possible to detect and assess damage using computer vision and artificial intelligence, incorporating tactile perception and robotic systems to carry out disassembly operations.
The result of this work is the multi-robot cell that Inescop will showcase at SIMAC, integrating several of the technologies developed within the project. Specifically, this comprehensive demonstrator can identify and locate areas where the footwear has 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.
In this way, the product is prepared for subsequent repair or remanufacturing operations that can extend its useful life or, when this is no longer possible, facilitate its 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 boost industrial remanufacturing
The development of REMAIN has been 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 Federation of Spanish Footwear Industries (FICE); industrial partners SMA-RTY and Automática y Control Numérico (ACN); and the AIDA CCI Chamber of Commerce, with the collaboration of the social association 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.