Wouter Sterkens

KU Leuven, Flanders Make (Belgium)

Papers

5

Total Citations

74

H-Index

4

About

Wouter Sterkens is a pioneering researcher at the intersection of artificial intelligence and sustainable manufacturing, specializing in robotic disassembly, circular economy, and waste electronics recycling. His work addresses critical challenges in automated remanufacturing, particularly for end-of-life products. Sterkens’ most influential contribution is his development of deep learning methods for scrap metal sorting, demonstrated in his highly cited 2022 paper on simultaneous mass estimation and class classification, which has garnered 38 citations. He introduced the innovative “You Only Demanufacture Once” (YODO) framework for unsupervised retrieval of Waste Electrical and Electronic Equipment (WEEE), earning 22 citations. His recent work includes the Robotic Ease of Disassembly Metric (Re-DiM), a groundbreaking tool for assessing how easily products can be robotically disassembled, applied to bike batteries and integrated into digital product passports for flexible remanufacturing systems. Sterkens has also advanced screw detection methods for robotic disassembly, comparing coarse-to-fine and multimodal fusion approaches. His research directly supports the transition toward circular manufacturing by enabling efficient, automated processing of complex waste streams, with significant implications for reducing electronic waste and promoting sustainable resource recovery.

Research Focus

Key Achievements

4
H-Index
5
Papers
74
Total Citations
15
Avg Citations/Paper
🏆 Most Cited Paper
Simultaneous mass estimation and class classification of scrap metals using deep learning
38 citations · 2022
📈 Most Prolific Year: 2022 (2 Papers)
🤝 Key Collaborators: 13
🏛 Institutions: KU Leuven, Flanders Make (Belgium)

Top Papers

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Key Collaborators

Contact & Links

Available for collaboration
Content generated · 13 days ago