While waiting for some data to transfer from an old iPhone to a new one, I mentioned that I had several older phones that could be recycled and would bring them to the Apple store next time.
The person helping me asked if I knew about the “Daisy Robot” they use to recycle phones. I hadn’t and of course I needed to know more (hello… ROBOTS! I need to know). He explained basically how the robot can disassemble a startling number of phones in a short period of time so that their parts are that much more reusable, more so than traditional “grind it all up” e-waste recycling methods.
Considering the current challenges with rare earth raw materials, etc. Recycling in ways which shorten the number of steps necessary for usable materials is wise.
Being an “old school” computer enthusiast, I asked him if he knew why the robot was named Daisy. He didn’t know. So, I figured it had to do with a couple of things. Of course he’d had to watch 2001: A Space Odyssey in high school – and that’s always a fun discussion – but there’s a little more to it than that:
1. Daisy Bell is the first song a computer “sang” in 1961:
2. Daisy Bell is the song the computer, Hal 9000 “sings” in 2001: A Space Odyssey as it is being shut down — obviously a reference to the 1961.
Here’s a quick intro to Apple’s Daisy robot:
So, what do you think is Daisy’s namesake?