  With the increasing demand of raw materials nowadays, and the decrease in
supplies, the industrial sector is suffering. The environment and the society
are also indirectly affected. The goal to reach a sustainable development
imposes several studies on the economic, environmental and community level. The
aim of this paper is to provide an overview of the existing body of literature
on automated remanufacturing, and its potential impacts on the three pillars of
sustainability. A particular interest is given to the growing use of cobots
promoted by the principle of industry 4.0. The investigation that covers each
part of the remanufacturing process will help in formalizing an approach about
the automation of such processes. It highlights the challenges found and aims
to improve the remanufacturing sector towards a more sustainable industry.
