An award winning design for equipment that recycles concrete and separates it from rebar and other debris on the spot could provide new avenues for urban sustainability and pollution reduction.

A new concrete-eating robot is out to re-write the rules for industrial demolition and recycling.

The ERO (short for "erosion") Concrete Recycling Robot uses water to break down concrete, and vacuums the component cement, sand, and aggregate into different packages for reuse. Dissembling and containing the materials on site could avoid the costs and pollution of pulverizing heavy chunks of concrete and metal and transporting them to recycling plants.

"High-pressure water jets attack the micro cracks on the concrete surface, making it come apart," said Omer Haciomeroglu, the ERO's designer and a student at Umeå Institute of Design in Sweden. "It leaves the metal rebar inside naked and ready for reuse."

If Haciomeroglu's plan comes to fruition, an autonomous fleet of ERO robots could be placed strategically within a building, scan the surroundings and determine their own route to operate safely. Once the robots start working, they essentially "erase" the building.

The project won Gold in the Student Designs category of the Industrial Design Society of America's International Design Excellence Awards the last year. Though the design is just a concept for now, Haciomeroglu plans to build it and is considering manufacturing partners. Research and testing of a prototype is projected to take two or three years.