ABB robot creating sustainable furniture

A staggering 640,000 tons of fishing nets are dumped into the sea every year. An additional 150 million tonnes of garbage floats in the world’s oceans.

In a pioneering project, Swedish sustainable design house Sculptur is turning the discarded nets and plastic waste into furniture using a specially adapted robot from ABB. The industrial robot functions as an advanced 3D-printer.

Because the robot can apply the injection molding of the plastics from any angle, it is far superior to conventional 3D-printers and helps save around 50 percent of the required base materials. ABB's simulation and offline programming software RobotStudio, offering a complete digital twin of physical assets, and a newly developed add-on for 3D-printing, ensure that the printing robot can be programed in just a few minutes. A complete designer piece can be manufactured in less than two hours.

Sculptur and ABB share the same philosophy that by using recycled products and cutting-edge technology they can together make the world a better, more sustainable place.