Recovering a "dead" lithium battery

[nova_robotics]

It seems like a good idea for the battery management circuitry to just shut down and stop drawing power before the pack gets to the point where it can't be recharged with the normal method, then wake up when plugged in. I'm not an EE so may just be showing my ignorance.

They do, but the problem is even the circuit to disconnect takes a tiny bit of current. A DW01 is a super common little low-voltage cutoff chip, and it's quiescent current (nerd speak for the amount of current something draws when it's off) is around 3 micro amps. So 3 millionths of an amp. Normally this is smaller than the self-discharge of the battery so we don't care. But it all adds up and eventually destroy the cell if you leave it long enough.