Humanoid robots are increasingly making their presence felt on car production lines, with two major automakers recording significant landmarks.
German giant BMW has confirmed it is launching a pilot to introduce humanoid bots at its plant in Leipzig, marking the first time it has used this form of physical AI in Europe.
At the same time, China’s Xiaomi has also successfully debuted a humanoid bot on the production line at its factory in Beijing.
In Leipzig, BMW is using a humanoid bot called Aeon produced by Stockholm-based Hexagon, developed at the company’s facility in Zurich, Switzerland. It has already successfully negotiated one test deployment in December, and faces another in April before a full pilot starts in June.
“The deployment in Leipzig is focusing on testing a multifunctional application of the robot,” BMW said in a press release. “It is based on Aeon’s design, whose human‑like body allows a wide range of hand and gripper elements or scanning tools to be flexibly attached and enables dynamic use on wheels.” The intention is to use the bot in the assembly of high-voltage batteries and component manufacture.
Long term, BMW hopes to increase the use of human bots for monotonous, demanding or safety-critical tasks that are challenging for its staff.
The Leipzig deployment follows a previous trial of human bots at its factory in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Within 10 months of their introduction, the Figure 02 bots from U.S. company Figure AI were working 10 hours a day, Monday through Friday, removing and positioning sheet metal for welding. It is estimated they assisted in the production of 30,000 X3 models.
One key takeaway was how quickly the bots were able to transition from lab to production, with Milan Nedeljković, BMW board member, admitting in a press release: “The symbiosis of engineering expertise and artificial intelligence opens up entirely new possibilities in production.”
Meanwhile, in China, Xiaomi —which produces the world’s fastest mass-produced electric saloon, the SU7 Ultra — trailed a humanoid robot for three hours on its production line in Beijing.
As a video released by Xiaomi showed, the bot, which was developed by Xiaomi, was used to pick up screw nuts and place them on specific spots on a car’s floor. Working simultaneously with another bot on the other side of the nut loading station, they achieved a success rate of around 90% in the allotted timeframe.
It is understood more bots are being assessed in other tasks, such as removing plastic films, installing badges and moving boxes.
According to the South China Morning Post, company founder Lei Jun said on social media: “This marks the first step towards stable application of Xiaomi’s humanoid robot in the field of intelligent manufacturing,” adding that he expected a large number would be working in the company’s factories over the next five years.
How many that will be — and what they cost to produce — has not yet been revealed.
