Navigating Sustainability: A Real-World Examination of Life Cycle Assessment in Early-Stage Robotics

This study introduces a practical application of life cycle assessment (LCA) for an early-stage service robot. The research specifically focuses on and applies prospective LCA methodology, incorporating scale-up methods to establish future use phase scenarios. Through these scenarios, the emerging technology can be compared with the reference process, giving initial insights about its potential environmental impacts, while still considering and highlighting uncertainties inherent in early-stage LCA. These results can then serve as a feedback loop to improve upon further iterations of the assessment.