With right-to-repair legislation coming into impact world wide, it is by no means been extra well timed for firms that manufacture our expertise to prioritize self-repair options of their design processes.
The larger the system, the simpler that is to do. Take Lenovo’s ThinkPads, for instance. For the past few years, the corporate has labored with iFixit to make sure its laptops are simply repairable. However tech firms would have us imagine that it is trickier to make smaller units, akin to smartwatches and different wearables, repairable at residence.
At CES 2026, I noticed a smartwatch idea design from Cambridge Consultants, a British deep-tech analysis firm, that proved this improper. Not solely was the system user-repairable, but it surely did so with out compromising on design or person expertise. The corporate is referring to the proof of idea as “Ouroboros.” The concept is to problem established tech firms to enhance their sustainability and product longevity, whereas demonstrating that it is of their enterprise pursuits to take action.
“Shoppers predict extra from manufacturers with regard to sustainability,” stated Matt White, head of sustainable design at Cambridge Consultants.
Repairability performs an vital function in sustainability. The longer we will maintain onto our tech — both by means of refurbishment or restore — the much less doubtless it’s to contribute to the rising piles of digital waste world wide, and the much less want there’s to mine new minerals to provide new tech.
This new structure is predicated on a Garmin smartwatch.
To engineer the Ouroboros idea, Cambridge Consultants used the Garmin Fenix 7 as a reference product, “to verify we weren’t straying too conceptual,” stated White (though he famous that this was not an official collaboration).
The crew rearchitected the inside of the watch to make sure the battery was accessible and detachable instantly underneath the again cowl. A hinge mechanism was then added to the rear of the watch that might make it straightforward to open whereas sustaining waterproofing — one thing that White stated is essential for wearables.
It is vital to not compromise on waterproofing on the subject of wearables.
The Ouroboros design would make it straightforward for folks to exchange the battery themselves, but when they did must ship it off for extra advanced repairs, a collection of check pins positioned instantly underneath the battery would make it straightforward for somebody repairing the smartwatch to triage for issues with out having to take the entire thing aside.
Some wearable-makers are beginning to take sustainable, repairable design significantly — notably Google with its latest Pixel Watch 4 — but it surely’s nonetheless removed from mainstream. Nonetheless, the tides are shifting, and as we will see from the Ouroboros idea, it is turning into more and more tough for tech firms to justify not getting on board.
