For the first time, humanoid robots will be deployed in an automobile production plant in the United States. A novelty made possible by the emergence in recent years of increasingly sophisticated and intelligent models.
The American company Figure announced that it had entered into an agreement with the BMW group to introduce its humanoid robots in a first factory. Figure is a start-up that has created a sensation in recent months with its first model, with a build comparable to a human (1.70 m and 60 kg), capable of moving at 4 km/h and carrying loads that can go up to 20 kg. A significant detail is that it has articulated fingers and not pincers like many other humanoid robots, to better manipulate certain objects.
In the context of car production, these robots will have to carry out tasks most often considered difficult, tedious or even dangerous for humans throughout the car manufacturing process. The idea is that workers focus more on skills and processes that cannot (yet) be automated, as well as on the safety of the production line. In fact, workers will be responsible for monitoring the proper behavior of these robots.
The integration of these robots will also involve machine learning. They will have to master all their movements and be programmed for each of their tasks. Figure demonstrated this recently, one of its robots having learned to use a coffee machine. To do this, he had to observe, on video, all these gestures, before reproducing them, correcting them so that they were ultimately as precise as possible. In total, this “training” lasted 10 hours.
It is expected that, initially, Figure will identify the most useful use cases related to automotive production. Next, robots will begin to be deployed at BMW’s manufacturing plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. Ultimately, these robots should allow manufacturers to increase their productivity, while reducing their costs.
As a reminder, in the United States, other companies such as Tesla or Boston Dynamics are also working on humanoid robot projects.
