Cognitive and Robotic Assistance to Increase Efficiency in Li-Ion Battery Re-manufacturing

The high level of resources consumed in battery-system production is greatly disproportionate to the time-frame of use in electric vehicles. In order to alleviate this problem, second-life usage, e.g. traction batteries for home power storages, is gaining increased interest. The goal of reuse and re-purpose involves re-manufacturing as important aspect of circular economy. In this context, the productivity of assembly, maintenance and disassembly methods is key for the economic re-usability of battery systems. As of current, industry is lacking established, semi-automatic methods to enable disassembly and maintenance of Li-ion battery systems. The ongoing project BatteryLife aims to develop robotic and cognitive assistance systems to foster economically efficient re-manufacturing of battery packs and modules. This paper presents main research questions, initial requirements, targeted methods, and planned research demonstrators.