Humanoid Robots 'The Future' of Car Making, Says BMW

For the first time, BMW will use humanoid robots for car manufacturing in Europe.

Two robots, made by Hexagon Robotics, are planned to work in production from the summer. They're currently in a test deployment at the Leipzig factory.

"This will be the future of automotive production," says Michael Nikolaides, head of process management and digitalisation at BMW.

Robot arms and other automation have been used by the car industry for decades.

So why the move to human-shaped robots?

"If you have a humanoid form, you can pretty much set it to any workplace where a human is working today because it has the same size and the same capabilities," says Nikolaides.

The cost of robots has fallen while it remains expensive to redesign the assembly line. As a result, it's more cost-effective to use robots that fit in with existing human processes.

- Author: Sean McManus, BBC

Read more...