Robotic Disassembly in Consumer E-Waste Management: A Systematic Review Toward Sustainable and Circular Economy Solutions

Electronic waste (E-Waste) is the fastest-growing waste stream worldwide, containing hazardous chemicals and valuable raw materials. Most treatment centers rely on manual disassembly, leading to inefficiencies. With increasing waste volumes, facilities struggle to meet recycling demands, causing more waste to be landfilled or incinerated - destroying critical materials and raising safety risks. Robotic disassembly offers a promising solution, enabling precise component separation while reducing environmental and health risks. This systematic review examines robotic disassembly of consumer electronics published from 2019 to 2026, following PRISMA 2020 guidelines. Studies were identified from five databases - Scopus, Web of Science, IEEE Xplore, Dimensions, and ACM Digital Library (last searched August 2026) - and assessed using an eight-criterion scoring rubric (cutoff: 6.5/9.0). From 1,372 retrieved records, 43 studies were included following duplicate removal, screening, and quality assessment. A narrative synthesis was adopted due to methodological heterogeneity. The review highlights advancements in algorithms, robotic designs, vision systems, and control strategies, with hybrid optimization methods improving disassembly planning and efficiency. Challenges remain, including real-world ambiguity, constraint integration, and high reconfiguration costs. The lack of open datasets, standardized benchmarks, and industrial validation limits scalability. Design for Disassembly emerges as the critical bottleneck for high-throughput, non-destructive recovery. Key gaps in error recovery and benchmarking are identified, providing a roadmap for future circular economy solutions. This review was not registered in any systematic review registry. Funded by the European Commission Horizon Europe programme (iBot4CRMs, grant no. 101189783) and FCT grant 2025.04850.BD.