Configuration and reconfiguration of robotic systems for waste macro sorting

The amount of municipal solid waste is globally increasing, leading to the need to arise the quantity of recycled materials. A relevant step in recycling is the macro sorting of waste, i.e., that part of the process where the waste is divided in groups in order to facilitate the following recycling processes. This activity is still mainly manual even if the presence of toxic and dirty components in the waste generally makes the working environment hostile and hazardous. In such a context, this paper proposes an approach for the optimization of the design and management of macro-sorting robotic systems. A first mixed-integer linear model is proposed for the optimal selection of the system resources as well as its flexibility level. A second model is used in order to manage system flexibility based on variation in the quantity of the waste to be sorted. The approach is tested on an industrial case, focusing on the macro sorting of mercury-free bulbs.