BMW, Hyundai, Mercedes-Benz, Nio and Tesla are among the rising number of automakers deploying robot dogs and human-like robots in their factories as next-level automation and AI slowly redefine the relationship between people and machines.
Already, a growing number of autonomous robodogs are prowling around plant floors, where they perform repetitive or dangerous activities. In addition, automakers are experimenting to see how robots can assume human tasks.
“When you see where this is going, we are moving from traditional static robotic arms to robot dogs that can actually move around and humanoid robots that can actually behave like a person,” Gartner analyst Pedro Pacheco Gartner said. “This represents a quantum leap in what automation can achieve in an automotive factory.”
Assembly line jobs such as painting a car are already fully automated. Currently, human intervention is only required for certain hard-to-reach production processes, such as mounting a car part inside a cabin. In time, however, humanoid robots will also have sufficient dexterity to carry out this task.
Spot the robotic dog
In response to this revolutionary transformation in automation, Boston Dynamics created Spot, a small robodog that can climb stairs and easily cross rough terrain.
After Hyundai acquired Boston Dynamics, Hyundai Motor was the first automaker to adopt Spot and deploy it for quality control, surveillance and risk assessment at different factories. For example, Hyundai’s research facility in Singapore has an almost completely automated production line.
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Ford also uses Spot to scan, create and update the layout of a factory.
Meanwhile, German supplier Continental’s vision for seamless mobility includes a self-driving van and autonomous robot dogs delivering parcels.
Recently, BMW introduced the four-legged robotic friend at its factory in Hams Hall, England, where models for its Mini brand are built.
Equipped with visual, thermal and acoustic sensors, Spot monitors the temperature of manufacturing equipment, scans the plant, collects data for the plant’s digital twin, supports maintenance, identifies potential air leaks and helps with the overall smooth running of production processes.
“The robot can easily take over the completion of numerous, repeatable monitoring tasks so the plant’s maintenance team can focus on maintenance,” Marco da Silva, head of Spot product development at Boston Dynamics, said in a release.
In addition, robotic dogs are also being trialed at other BMW Group plants.
Humanoid robots lend a helping hand
At the same time, humanoid robots are lining up to replace human workers in a growing number of repetitive or dangerous tasks on assembly lines. These humanoid robots can move in a wide range of motion and perform tasks the way humans do.
“Humanoid robots are even more important than robot dogs as they have the same shape as a human so they can grab things with their arms,” Gartner’s Pacheco said.
Mercedes, BMW, Nio, Honda, Hyundai and Tesla are already adopting or testing humanoid robots in their production lines to capitalize on this quantum technology leap. “It’s a significant, confirmed trend. This is happening,” Pacheco said.
For example, BMW is in partnership with robotics startup Figure to deploy humanoid robots at the automaker’s U.S. facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina. The robots will work on manufacturing processes in the body shop, sheet metal and warehouse over the next 12 to 24 months.
Tesla recently introduced Optimus Gen 2, its latest humanoid robot under development. Nio employs UBTech’s Walker S robot on its assembly lines to help with tasks such as inspecting door locks, seatbelts and headlight covers.
Meanwhile, Hyundai Motor Group has introduced DAL-e, short for “Drive you, Assist you, Link with you experience” as an AI-powered automated robot offering bespoke customer services at a Hyundai showroom in Seoul.
Robots are the new co-workers
Previously, a robot would work in one corner of a factory and a human in another. Now the aim is for have people work alongside humanoid robots, with robot dogs joining the team.
Nevertheless, it will take time before an automaker or supplier has a “lights-out” factory, namely one that require no human interaction on site. Pacheco expected such factories to come online “toward the second half of the next decade.”
Time will be needed to overcome manufacturing challenges. “The manufacturing mentality is to reduce change because change creates fluctuations and fluctuations create challenges in terms of quality,” he said.
In addition, there will doubtless be union and work council resistance to the introduction of humanoid robots. The move doesn’t necessarily mean job losses, Pacheco said. In many locations, automakers face difficulties hiring enough factory workers because the work is difficult and the jobs are often at locations in the middle of nowhere.
Moreover, once more machines are installed in a factory, you will need people to maintain, program, monitor and repair them. “Overall, the productivity will increase because you will have more automation,” Pacheco said, “but you also need a human structure to support that automation.”
