Alongside "climate change," "resource depletion" has become an important social issue, and the realization of a circular economy (CE) is desired. At Panasonic, we are also working on expanding the use of recycled materials and creating CE-type businesses such as subscription services and the sale of refurbished products.

 In recycling and refurbishment plants, careful disassembly is necessary to extract high-quality recycled materials and components, and currently, this process relies heavily on manual labor. However, disassembly work is labor-intensive, leading to a chronic labor shortage, which has created a demand for the development of new technologies to innovate resource circulation.

 In response, Panasonic has developed an automated disassembly system that precisely disassembles used home appliances and has begun mass production operations in recycling plants. Currently, we are further developing this initiative and developing an "autonomous disassembly robot" that uses product design information to autonomously disassemble products. I would like to introduce this initiative.