Auto-Repair Batteries

At Ohm&Watt, a Strasbourg company that repairs and electrifies bicycles, dismantling the cells of electric batteries is still a manual, time-consuming and dangerous operation that holds back reuse. Gauthier Hentz, a robotics engineer, is developing with the company an automated assistance system to separate welded cells, so that repairs can be industrialised in a local workshop rather than relying on recycling by shredding. The prototype is based on co-design with repairers and on access to the Fablab at IUT de Haguenau and to the European research network Fraunhofer IPA on dismantling. By reducing the risk of accidents and making it easier to handle large batches, the project aims to build a local battery repair sector that cannot be offshored and uses resources sparingly.