Humanoid robots line up to enter the car factory

The first year of explosion, or just a flash in the pan?

The popularity of humanoid robots is both unexpected and reasonable.

First, the robot market, which has been silent for a long time, really needs some "new stories" to tell; second, with the right time and place with the entry of giants and the frequent introduction of policies, humanoid robots are riding on the momentum of AI, and both technology and demand have ushered in the long-awaited "tipping point."

The slogan "The First Year of Humanoid Robots" has also been extended from 2023 to 2024.

In 2023, whether you are holding a dream, working sincerely, or playing the capital game of "pass the parcel", the scene of a group of giants competing to do hard technology, a large number of newcomers being hailed as unicorns, and a burst of new products can be called a famous scene in the entire technology circle.

Judging from the market valuation and popularity, 2023 seems to be the "first year of humanoid robots". However, in terms of technological breakthroughs and application implementation, the humanoid robot craze has just begun, and this first year is still under discussion.

On the other hand, in 2024, which is already halfway through, the popularity of humanoid robots remains unabated, and even has a potential to rise. Capital continues to increase, and companies that previously waited and saw are also entering the market. The market value of UBTECH, the "first humanoid robot stock", once soared to 100 billion yuan, and the price war of Yushu's 99,000 humanoid robot kicked off...

Judging from several recent incidents of humanoid robots "working", commercialization may soon no longer be a "blank check", at least in some specific scenarios.

Car factories set off a wave of humanoid "workers"

On May 31, Dongfeng Liuzhou Motor and UBTECH Robotics officially signed a strategic cooperation agreement on the application of humanoid robots, introducing UBTECH's industrial version of the humanoid robot Walker S into the Liuzhou Motor factory for a series of tasks in the automobile manufacturing process, including seat belt inspection, door lock inspection, headlight cover inspection, body quality inspection, rear cover inspection, interior inspection, oil filling, front axle assembly, collection and picking, vehicle logo affixing, configuration flashing, label printing, etc.

In fact, UBTECH is not the first to try something new. There have been precedents of entering factories before.

In January this year, Figure AI reached a cooperation agreement with BMW to introduce the general humanoid robot Figure 01 to BMW's US factory to assist in automobile manufacturing;

In February, Walker S was "trained" at the NIO factory and settled in the general assembly workshop of NIO's second advanced manufacturing base. It is reported that this 1.7-meter-tall humanoid robot has a replaceable end effector and has all-round perception capabilities such as multi-dimensional force perception, multi-eye vision, and omnidirectional hearing, and can operate accurately and safely on the assembly line;

In March, Mercedes-Benz announced a partnership with Apptronik to pilot the Apollo humanoid robot in the factory to perform heavy and low-skilled work such as handling and assembly to test its application capabilities on the production line.

In April, Sanctuary AI announced that it would work with auto parts manufacturing giant Magna to integrate general-purpose artificial intelligence robots into manufacturing facilities to perform specific tasks; Boston Dynamics' new all-electric Atlas humanoid robot will also be used by Hyundai Motor for testing to develop "next-generation automotive manufacturing capabilities";

In May, Tesla revealed that Optimus has learned to accurately assemble battery cells, and once mature, it will directly enter its own factory to assist in production...

Why are car companies rushing to make humanoids?

Since Tesla pioneered the field of "making humans" among car companies, Xiaomi, Xiaopeng, BYD, Mercedes-Benz and other car companies have quickly followed suit and directly entered the blue ocean of humanoid robots.

Tesla has created the "Optimus" series for its own factories; BYD invested in Zhihui Jun's "Zhiyuan Robot"; Xiaopeng released the humanoid robot PX5; Weilai joined hands with "the first humanoid stock" UBTECH; Xiaomi launched CyberOne, established a robot company, invested in the humanoid robot innovation company center, and led the national key research and development project; Chery released the humanoid bipedal robot Mornine...

But why are these auto giants so keen on this emerging track?

First, humanoid robots are expected to become another disruptive product after computers, smartphones, and new energy vehicles, reshaping the global industrial landscape. Investments often lag behind, and although everyone is selling the future, car companies certainly hope to seize this opportunity, take advantage of their first-mover advantage, and take a bite of this big cake.

In addition, there are many technical similarities between cars and humanoid robots.

Compared with traditional industrial robots , the biggest advantages of humanoid robots are their versatility in scenarios and flexibility in application.

Technologies such as autonomous driving and machine vision provide technical reserves for humanoid robots to perceive and make decisions. Together with the experience accumulated in the production process and tooling of complete vehicles and parts, these are enough to promote the evolution of humanoid robots. After the introduction of AI, they can learn autonomously and complete self-iteration, thus taking on occasional and highly complex tasks.

For humanoid robot companies, in-depth cooperation with the automotive industry is also a key step.

Automobile manufacturing is an extremely complex industry that values ​​efficiency above all else. If humanoid robots are proven to greatly improve efficiency and reduce costs, large-scale replication beyond the automotive industry will become inevitable.

In addition to verifying value, real-world application scenarios are also conducive to product iteration. After all, the ideals of the laboratory are always "full", but whether the reality is "skinny" can only be known after testing.

In addition to consolidating and enhancing core competitiveness, humanoid robots, the ultimate "intelligent body", may become an innovative layout for automobile companies in "replacing people with machines".

Although humanoid robots are still in the primary "apprenticeship" stage, and many aspects such as application scenarios, technical capabilities, and cost control need to be broken through, if given enough time and continuous investment, humanoid robots will hopefully break the current industry bottleneck, replace some labor-intensive jobs in automobile manufacturing, and solve problems such as labor shortages and frequent industrial accidents.

From this point of view, it is a forward-looking move for car companies to list humanoid robots as a development direction. Where will the chess pieces fall and how will the game go? Let us witness it together.