DESIGN AND SAFETY ASPECTS OF A COLLABORATIVE ROBOTICS APPLICATION FOR THE DISASSEMBLY OF EXHAUSTED BEV BATTERIES

The recycling of used vehicle batteries represents a key challenge for the sustainability of the electrification process of road transport. The process involves two distinct phases: the first consists of the disassembly of the battery pack and the separation of its components and the lithium cells that make up its basic elements, while the second involves the recovery of the basic elements in waste treatment plants. The first phase requires the implementation of a sequence of disassembly operations that vary for each type of battery pack to be recovered. In this work, we investigate the possibility of using a collaborative robotic cell for this first phase, in which a human operator carries out the disassembly operations with the help of an anthropomorphic robot installed on a mobile base, which is thus able to reach any point on the battery by moving appropriately around the work surface. The disassembly cycle of a well-known battery is analyzed. This first analysis shows that in order to reduce the time required to complete the operation, it is necessary for man and robot to perform certain operations by sharing the work space. The second part of the article then introduces collision avoidance algorithms for robots that allow them to share the workspace in compliance with current technical regulations. The results obtained are illustrated by means of simulations carried out in a mixed simulation environment.