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Robotics

Figure AI's Humanoid Robot Helped Assemble BMWs At US Factory (arstechnica.com) 12

An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: Unlike Tesla, which hopes to develop its own bipedal 'bot to work on its production line sometime next year, BMW has brought in a robot from Figure AI. The Figure 02 robot has hands with sixteen degrees of freedom and human-equivalent strength. "We are excited to unveil Figure 02, our second-generation humanoid robot, which recently completed successful testing at the BMW Group Plant Spartanburg. Figure 02 has significant technical advancements, which enable the robot to perform a wide range of complex tasks fully autonomously," said Brett Adcock, founder and CEO of Figure AI.

BMW wanted to test how to integrate a humanoid robot into its production process -- how to have the robot communicate with the production line software and human workers and determine what requirements would be necessary to add robots to the mix. The Figure robot was given the job of inserting sheet metal parts into fixtures as part of the process of making a chassis. BMW says this required particular dexterity and that it's an ergonomically awkward and tiring task for humans.

Now that the trial is over, Figure's robot is no longer working at Spartanburg, and BMW says it has "no definite timetable established" to add humanoid robots to its production lines. "The developments in the field of robotics are very promising. With an early-test operation, we are now determining possible applications for humanoid robots in production. We want to accompany this technology from development to industrialization," said Milan Nedeljkovi, BMW's board member responsible for production.
BMW Group published a video of the Figure 02 robot on YouTube.
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Figure AI's Humanoid Robot Helped Assemble BMWs At US Factory

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  • In the video it is shuffling along, indicating that it can't catch itself if it bumps into something, or gets bumped. It probably can't lift much weight either, as the load would put it off balance.

    Boston Dynamics robots can balance themselves, so don't have those issues. I can't see this thing being very practical if it has these limitations.

    • Re: (Score:2, Funny)

      by geekmux ( 1040042 )

      In the video it is shuffling along, indicating that it can't catch itself if it bumps into something, or gets bumped. It probably can't lift much weight either, as the load would put it off balance.

      The similarities between these and a US President moving around, are uncanny. Truly.

    • by q_e_t ( 5104099 )

      In the video it is shuffling along, indicating that it can't catch itself if it bumps into something,

      Maybe it's just depressed. Brain the size of a planet and all it's being asked to do is assemble cars.

  • by Anonymous Coward

    Now robots will install the turn signals that never get used!

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