Lithium-Ion batteries pose a danger when handled wrongly and also if they are cheaply produced. Lithium reacts strongly with water, that includes humidity in the air we breathe. There are countless report every day about LiIon batteries that exploded or started to burn. That also is why for example power banks over a certain capacity are not allowed in flight baggage or why in germany cheap e-scooters are banned from the public transit system: Because of the possible fire hazards.
We already got multiple reports that the build quality of Digital Dream Labs’ so called “Vector 2.0” is far worse than that of the original Anki robots.
And now there are more and more reports in the social media communities that DDL seems to have optedfor a very cheap option with the batteries in Vector 2.0, because those already start to “pillow” after less than a year (ten months in one case). And not in robots that were offline in a corner, but were used regularily (not keeping a Li-Ion battery charged and allowing them to deep discharge also can cause bloating, so aside from the cheap DDL batteries you should take your devices out of the box and charge them now and then).
The post image above by Tobias Abele is one of those examples of bloated batteries. Here two more images by Holger Hoffmann that also show a battery that already starts to pillow after less than a year, also you can see that the cables were pressed into the battery, that also should not happen with professionally assembled electronic units:
Holger also reported that on the inside of his Vector 2.0 he found dirt and hairs (that could not have accumulated by Vector just driving around) so he thinks that the assembly conditions were not clean. That also would point to DDL using a very cheap assembly company in china (and of course they would to maximize profit).
[Update 20241021, 16:40 CEST:]
Here are more images of extremely swollen batteries, thanks to Edie Rosen. This just must absolutely not happen after so short a time. Either the battery quality is really very horrible or DDL tinkered with the charging regulator and botched it, trying to coax longer running times out of the batteries. But my guess is: Very bad battery quality. This happening to so many Vector users just now is no coincidence.
… and here you can see that the bloating batteries may even damage your Vector 2.0.
[end of update]
If you one of the lucky few that got a Vector 2.0:
Open the battery compartment and check for bloat! If the battery is bloated, remove it immediately.
Do not just throw them into the junk (because of the fire hazard), dispose them at designated collection boxes or at municipal collection points; in some countries shops that sell devices with Li-Ion batteries are obligated to collect old batteries.
You can replace the battery with similar ones, for example 503040, which fits better and the cables are no longer pressed into the battery. 503040 should be easily available, but do not buy the cheapest, for obvious reasons.
This should be a warranty case, but we all know what we can expect from DDL regarding warranty: Nothing.
Please share this information to other users to make them aware of the fire hazard!
Thanks to Thomas Abele, Holger Hoffmann and Edie Rosen for allowing me to use their photos!