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Article

Robotic Removal and Collection of Screws in Collaborative Disassembly of End-of-Life Electric Vehicle Batteries

1
School of Information Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
2
School of Mechanical and Electronic Engineering, Wuhan University of Technology, Wuhan 430070, China
3
Department of Mechanical Engineering, School of Engineering, University of Birmingham, Birmingham B15 2TT, UK
*
Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.
Biomimetics 2025, 10(8), 553; https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics10080553
Submission received: 23 July 2025 / Revised: 17 August 2025 / Accepted: 19 August 2025 / Published: 21 August 2025
(This article belongs to the Special Issue Intelligent Human–Robot Interaction: 4th Edition)

Abstract

The recycling and remanufacturing of end-of-life (EoL) electric vehicle (EV) batteries are urgent challenges for a circular economy. Disassembly is crucial for handling EoL EV batteries due to their inherent uncertainties and instability. The human–robot collaborative disassembly of EV batteries as a semi-automated approach has been investigated and implemented to increase flexibility and productivity. Unscrewing is one of the primary operations in EV battery disassembly. This paper presents a new method for the robotic unfastening and collecting of screws, increasing disassembly efficiency and freeing human operators from dangerous, tedious, and repetitive work. The design inspiration for this method originated from how human operators unfasten and grasp screws when disassembling objects with an electric tool, along with the fusion of multimodal perception, such as vision and touch. A robotic disassembly system for screws is introduced, which involves a collaborative robot, an electric spindle, a screw collection device, a 3D camera, a six-axis force/torque sensor, and other components. The process of robotic unfastening and collecting screws is proposed by using position and force control. Experiments were carried out to validate the proposed method. The results demonstrate that the screws in EV batteries can be automatically identified, located, unfastened, and removed, indicating potential for the proposed method in the disassembly of EoL EV batteries.
Keywords: human–robot collaboration; disassembly; robotic unfastening; screws; electric vehicle batteries; end-of-life electric vehicles human–robot collaboration; disassembly; robotic unfastening; screws; electric vehicle batteries; end-of-life electric vehicles

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Tan, M.; Huang, J.; Jiang, X.; Fang, Y.; Liu, Q.; Pham, D. Robotic Removal and Collection of Screws in Collaborative Disassembly of End-of-Life Electric Vehicle Batteries. Biomimetics 2025, 10, 553. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics10080553

AMA Style

Tan M, Huang J, Jiang X, Fang Y, Liu Q, Pham D. Robotic Removal and Collection of Screws in Collaborative Disassembly of End-of-Life Electric Vehicle Batteries. Biomimetics. 2025; 10(8):553. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics10080553

Chicago/Turabian Style

Tan, Muyao, Jun Huang, Xingqiang Jiang, Yilin Fang, Quan Liu, and Duc Pham. 2025. "Robotic Removal and Collection of Screws in Collaborative Disassembly of End-of-Life Electric Vehicle Batteries" Biomimetics 10, no. 8: 553. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics10080553

APA Style

Tan, M., Huang, J., Jiang, X., Fang, Y., Liu, Q., & Pham, D. (2025). Robotic Removal and Collection of Screws in Collaborative Disassembly of End-of-Life Electric Vehicle Batteries. Biomimetics, 10(8), 553. https://doi.org/10.3390/biomimetics10080553

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