# Episode 114: Reducing waste with robotics - Josie Gotz

- Show: [Robot Talk](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk)
- Published: 2025-03-21
- Length: 27m
- Episode: 114
- Page: https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-03-21-episode-114-reducing-waste-with-robotics-josie-gotz
- Listen: https://ukrobotics.libsyn.com/episode-114-reducing-waste-with-robotics-josie-gotz

## Summary

Josie Gotz, a Senior Research Engineer at the Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC), discusses the challenges and opportunities of using robotics for material recovery, reuse, and recycling. She highlights the difficulty of automating the disassembly of electric vehicle (EV) batteries due to high product variance and low return on investment compared to manufacturing. Gotz explains how AI and computer vision are critical for handling this variability, enabling robots to identify components and plan disassembly strategies in real-time. She also argues that regulatory changes, such as 'product as a service' models and battery passports, are essential to incentivize manufacturers to design for disassembly and make robotic recycling economically viable.

## Chapters

- [0:07](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-03-21-episode-114-reducing-waste-with-robotics-josie-gotz#t=7) Introduction and MTC Overview
- [6:01](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-03-21-episode-114-reducing-waste-with-robotics-josie-gotz#t=361) The Challenge of EV Battery Disassembly
- [7:44](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-03-21-episode-114-reducing-waste-with-robotics-josie-gotz#t=464) Current State of Robotic Recycling and AI
- [12:13](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-03-21-episode-114-reducing-waste-with-robotics-josie-gotz#t=733) Economic Barriers to Automation
- [14:21](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-03-21-episode-114-reducing-waste-with-robotics-josie-gotz#t=861) Regulatory Drivers and Product-as-a-Service
- [19:43](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-03-21-episode-114-reducing-waste-with-robotics-josie-gotz#t=1183) Role of AI, Vision, and University Research
- [24:14](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/robot-talk/2025-03-21-episode-114-reducing-waste-with-robotics-josie-gotz#t=1454) General Purpose Robots and Future Outlook

## Topics

- [Robotics & autonomy](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/robotics-and-autonomy)
- [AI & machine learning](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/ai-and-machine-learning)
- [Sustainability & circular products](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/sustainability-and-circularity)
- [Policy, trade & tariffs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/policy-trade-and-tariffs)
- [Pricing, margins & unit economics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/topic/pricing-and-unit-economics)

## Most relevant to

early-stage companies

## Mentioned

- Manufacturing Technology Centre (company)
- VW (company)
- Jaguar Land Rover (company)
- Rolls-Royce (company)
- Nissan (company)
- EV batteries (product)
- black mass (other)
- battery passports (other)

## Related episodes from other shows

- [When robots recycle with Matanya Horowitz of AMP Robotics](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/how-i-built-this/2023-07-06-when-robots-recycle-with-matanya-horowitz-of-amp-robotics) (How I Built This)
- [191 - Will AI help close the gaps in recycling? Apurba Pradhan from Everest Labs](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/people-of-packaging/2023-05-05-191-will-ai-help-close-the-gaps-in-recycling-apurba-pradhan-from-everest-labs) (People of Packaging)
- [Innovative Waste Recycling: AI and Robotics with Areeb Malik, Co-founder of Glacier](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/hardware-to-save-a-planet/2022-08-18-innovative-waste-recycling-ai-and-robotics-with-areeb-malik-co-founder-of-glacie) (Hardware to Save a Planet)
- [Sustainability in the Robotics-as-a-Service Industry](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/over-the-air/2021-10-26-sustainability-in-the-robotics-as-a-service-industry) (Over the Air)
- [Inside Glacier's Mission to Modernize Recycling](https://hardwarepodcasts.com/podcast/the-robot-report-podcast/2025-11-26-inside-glaciers-mission-to-modernize-recycling) (The Robot Report Podcast)

## Citing this page

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