Approach for Structured Repairability Assessment for Automated Repair Processes

Repair is a crucial process to recover resources and reduce waste within a circular economy. Automating manual and laborious repair processes has the potential to establish greater economization and efficiency. While research on assessing product repairability exists, there is currently limited research specifically focused on the repairability regarding automated processes. Therefore, this paper investigates the existing knowledge on automation, manual and automated repair processes from theory as well as practical applications, to identify benchmarks for reparability assessment for automated processes. Based on these requirements, solutions, processes, and operating resources are identified. A standardized and structured approach for evaluating the repairability of products for automated repair is proposed. This research also highlights the economic and ecological advantages, as well as the sustainability challenges and potentials of using automated repair processes. Overall, this research contributes to the development of a more sustainable and efficient CE through the advancement of automated repair processes.