Sustainable robotics

Learn

What you’ll learn

• The environmental costs of robots
• How to design more sustainable robots
• How robots help sustainability

The costs

• Materials: metals and plastics; batteries need lithium, cobalt and other mined materials.
• Energy: running and charging robots, and training large AI models.
• E-waste: broken electronics are often thrown away, and few are recycled properly.

Designing better robots

Idea	In practice
Use less energy	Lighter robots, efficient motor drivers (e.g. TB6612 rather than L298N), sleep modes, slower speeds
Rechargeable power	NiMH or Li-ion instead of throwaway alkalines
Repairable	Screws instead of glue, standard connectors, spare parts
Reusable	Modular parts: reuse motors, sensors and boards in the next project
Recycle right	Batteries and electronics to proper collection points

Robots helping

• Sorting recycling more accurately
• Precision farming that uses less water and chemicals
• Inspecting wind turbines, pipelines and solar farms
• Monitoring oceans, forests and wildlife

Examples

Example: energy budget of a robot car

Choice	Effect
L298N → TB6612FNG driver	Less power wasted as heat, so longer run time
Alkaline AA → NiMH AA	Hundreds of recharges instead of throwing batteries away
Arduino delay() while idle → sleep mode	Lower idle current

Example: a repairable chassis

Motors held with screws and brackets, sensors on plug-in headers, the board on standoffs: any part can be replaced in minutes and reused in the next build.

Practice

Audit your robotEasy

List every part of your robot (or the robot car in this course). Which can be reused in your next project?

Battery mathsMedium

A club uses 24 alkaline AA batteries a month. How many is that in a year, and how many NiMH cells would replace them? 288 a year. About 24 NiMH cells (plus chargers), reused for years.

Green robot pitchHard

Design a robot that helps the environment in your area. Explain its job and how you’d make the robot itself sustainable.

Quick check

1. Which makes a robot more repairable?

Glue everywhereScrews and standard connectorsSealed casesSingle-use parts

2. Where should old batteries go?

General rubbishBattery recycling pointsThe gardenA drawer forever

3. One way robots help sustainability is…

Precision farming that uses less chemicalUsing more energyMaking more e-wasteNone

Check my answers