Wright State wins $3M NSF grant to study scrap recycling

Wright State University researchers Natasha Banerjee and Sean Banerjee received a nearly $3 million NSF grant to study converting scrap metal from large broken consumer goods into new small products.

• Main announcement: Wright State University (Department of Computer Science and Engineering) awarded a nearly $3 million grant from the National Science Foundation to fund research on recycling manufacturing that makes small products from broken but intact large metal objects (examples cited: refrigerators, washing machines). Principal investigators are Natasha Banerjee and Sean Banerjee.
• Project details and collaborators: The project will explore how small-scale manufacturing can use recycled materials and scale for business; employees would be trained as “recyclofacturers” using artificial intelligence, virtual reality headsets, and robots. Collaborators include an economist from Chapman University, a sociologist from University of Lynchburg, a roboticist and a human factors expert from Santa Clara University, community recycling/manufacturing leaders, and members of the public. (No implementation timeline provided in the article.)