Why does sorting by form factor help recover more valuable materials?

Different battery types contain entirely different raw materials. A standard household battery primarily yields zinc and manganese, while laptop and power tool batteries contain valuable lithium and cobalt. The cleaner we separate these types upfront, the purer and more valuable the material you recover at the end.

Which battery types can the AI accurately distinguish?

The system divides the material stream into the most relevant practical categories, including: household batteries, power tool batteries, general lithium-ion cells, and laptop batteries - the latter even subdivided into flat pouches and rigid hardcases.

What happens with contaminated or deformed batteries?

The AI does not rely on barcodes or simple colours - it understands the entire structure of the object. Even if a battery is heavily soiled or misshapen, the system recognises the typical contours and classifies it correctly.

■ Use Cases

Sorting batteries: recovering more recyclable materials.

We use cameras and AI to identify mixed battery streams fully automatically based on their design. The result: you can recover valuable raw materials in a targeted manner whilst protecting your plant from dangerous fires.

Increase sorting rates now

Getting more out of the Black Mass.

Demand for cobalt, nickel and lithium is booming. However, in order to recover these valuable metals cleanly at the end of the process, the batteries must be properly dismantled before they are mechanically crushed. Inaccurate dismantling reduces the quality of the material as a whole and wastes money.

Genuine raw material recovery: if only batteries that belong together end up in the shredder, the end product is all the more valuable.

Automatically sorted correctly: household batteries, power tool batteries and flat laptop cells require completely different recycling routes. The AI handles this sorting without error.

Prevent fires before they start: if large, high-energy battery packs are sorted out in good time, this will protect your entire plant from costly downtime and fire damage.

Put an end to the bottleneck: manual sorting slows down throughput and is very demanding for staff. AI works consistently quickly and reliably.

“The quality of the recycling process is determined in the first few seconds. By sorting batteries precisely according to their external shape, we lay the foundations for the profitable recovery of valuable raw materials on an industrial scale.”

Johannes Laier, co-founder and co-CEO at WeSort.AI

Different types of batteries scattered across the conveyor belt

The principle is simple: you define the fraction that maximises your profit – Vision.Sort delivers the purity required to market it as a high-quality raw material.

Vision.Sort recognises objects by their external appearance.

The Vision.Sort classifies batteries and rechargeable batteries based on their visible characteristics. The high-resolution camera captures the material flow, and the software assigns the objects to the correct type within milliseconds.

This results in fully automated, separate material flows, such as:

Household batteries: Separately detects standard round cells and button cells.
Power tool rechargeable batteries: Accurately detects and sorts power tool battery packs.
Laptop batteries: Precisely distinguishes between flat pouch cells and hard-case batteries.
Li-ion batteries: Separates them specifically to efficiently recover valuable lithium.

Vision.Sort: High-purity output without any loss of speed

The Vision.Sort can be flexibly integrated into your existing conveyor system and has been developed for long-term, reliable use in battery recycling.

Technical specifications for battery recycling

Parameter	Spezifikation
Visual characteristics	Analysis of colour, shape, structure and object position.
Minimum object size	From 5 mm.
Recognition technology	High-resolution optical camera combined with AI identification.
Conveyor belt speed	Up to 4.0 m/s – full performance for high throughput.