As new energy vehicles become increasingly widespread, battery swapping is emerging as a key energy solution due to its efficiency and convenience. But delivering fast and precise swaps depends on one critical enabler—intelligent vision systems.
Recently, a leading energy technology company deployed Transfer Technology’s high-performance 3D vision positioning system in its battery-swap stations. Designed for light trucks, heavy-duty trucks, and forklifts, the system enables fully automated, millimeter-level positioning for battery pick-and-place, significantly boosting efficiency and reliability.
In traditional swap stations, battery handling relied on manual operation or mechanical fixtures, often leading to large positioning deviations, low efficiency, and collision risks. The challenge becomes even greater when vehicles differ in battery size, parking position, or approach angle. Achieving millimeter-level accuracy in recognition and picking has long been an industry pain point.
To solve this, the project adopted an “eye-in-hand” 3D vision-guided solution, powered by the Epic Eye Pixel Mini industrial 3D camera. The system enables:
Automatic detection of battery unlocking status when the vehicle arrives
Precise localization of the battery’s center pose, guiding robots for safe pick-and-place
Real-time detection of the battery locking mechanism status to ensure secure locking
Dual-arm robotic collaboration to prevent interference caused by vehicle body oscillation
02 Technical Highlights
High-Precision Recognition
Equipped with a high-performance 3D camera and adaptive optics, the system delivers clear and complete point cloud data—even on challenging surfaces like gray-painted metal or black electrophoretic steel. It achieves ±0.74mm repeatability and ±1mm picking accuracy.
Ultra-Fast Response
Each swap cycle is completed in under 4 seconds, supporting the high-frequency demands of battery swapping.
Resilient to Environmental Interference
The camera’s strong light-suppression capability ensures stable performance under typical industrial lighting, reducing the need for extra shielding or lighting fixtures, and lowering deployment and maintenance costs.
Flexible Adaptation
The system can simultaneously handle two different sizes of batteries and trays, offering strong compatibility and scalability, with the flexibility to be quickly adapted to new battery models in the future.
03 Customer Value
Quality Assurance
Recognition accuracy up to 99.9% under standard parts and stable lighting conditions.
Fully Automated Workflow
From vehicle entry, battery handling, positioning, locking verification, to vehicle exit—all completed without manual intervention.
Safety and Reliability
Intelligent detection of battery locking mechanism engagement ensures safe, error-free operation.
Reduced O&M costs
The vision system delivers high stability, easy maintenance, and low long-term operating costs.
With the rapid adoption of electric logistics vehicles and commercial EVs, standardization and automation of battery swapping are becoming industry trend. As the “intelligent eye” of battery-swap stations, 3D vision systems not only enhance the accuracy and efficiency of battery replacement, but also provides a critical foundation for fully unmanned operations.
Looking forward, with deeper integration of vision algorithms and AI models, 3D vision systems will play an even greater role in more complex industrial scenarios, driving the convergence of intelligent manufacturing and green energy.
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