Robotic Sorter for Used Portable Batteries

Robotic Sorter for Used Portable Batteries

RoSo-UPB's ambition is to automate the classification process of cylindrical cells and consumer batteries with the aim of recycling and re-using batteries' metals.

The solution

The approach and solution created in the project was in brief as following:
1. The fraction is handled mechanically for optimising the orientation and sort of the battery waste
2. The pre-sorted material is classified by using cognitive machine vision
3. The user is in the loop for optimising the learning process and dealing with the exceptions


Challenge

Every year, approximately 800.000 tons of automotive batteries, 190.000 tons of industrial batteries, and 160.000 tons of consumer batteries enter the European Union (source: ec.europa.eu/environment/waste/batteries). The non-recycled batteries increase the risk of releasing hazardous substances and constitutes a waste of resources. Since 2008, when the nation-wide collection system was established in Finland, AkkuSer Oy has received all the portable consumer batteries collected in Finland. Currently the amount exceeds 1.500 tons per year and the batteries are sorted in semi-automatic sorting lines.



Impact

The long term goal of this project was to develop and commercialise a automatic and adaptive system for sorting out not only recycled batteries, but also other types of waste fraction. When successfully implemented, the system would make a significant break-through to the battery-sorting industry which is relying mainly on manual labor and working with dangerous material manually.

Facts and figures

  • Technology Area:

    Robot Cell Development

  • End User:

    Robot Cell Development

  • Start Date - End Date:

    01/07/2020 - 30/09/2021

  • Duration:

    15 months

  • FSTP Funding:

    164 500,00 €

  • TRL Level at Start:

    1

  • TRL Level at End:

    5

  • Number of early adopters raised:

    0

  • Project results
    It wasn't an easy challenge to start with, but we managed to realise the real bottlenecks of solving the problem. The work continues!  

    AkkuSer Oy – Tommi Karjalainen, CEO

    back to success stories
    Subscribe to newsletter

    Please subscribe to our mailing list to be the first one informed about the new open calls, events and other hot news!


      Please check if the email you entered is correct
      All done!

      Your have successfully subscribed to Trinity newsletter.