Meet Liam, the Apple robot that systematically rips apart old iPhonesMumbai, Mar 22(AZINS) At Apple’s Spring event yesterday, apart from unveiling their new iPhone SE and 9.7-inch iPad Pro, the company also used it as an opportunity to showcase their recycling prowess. And the star of this part of the show was a robot called Liam.

Just like its namesake Irish actor who’s known for taking apart the bad guys in his movies, this robotic version serves a very unique purpose at Apple--systematically taking apart iPhones and cannibalizing components that can later be reutilized and recycled.

Consisting of an array of appendages that enable it to grip, pull apart and extract all manner of components, Liam helps remove all parts of old iPhones that can be re-purposed and reused.

For example it is able to extract cobalt and lithium from the battery, gold and copper from the camera, and silver and platinum from the main logic board--all of these valuable elements that can (and should) find their way into the ongoing manufacturing system instead of being discarded into the Earth where they may cause harm to the environment.