Automation of production Humanoid robots load driverless transporters

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The famous "last ten meters," which have stubbornly resisted automation until now, have now been overcome in China: In a BYD manufacturing facility in Changsha, a humanoid robot has recently been loading autonomously driving transporters.

The use of the bipedal robot "Walker S1" by Chinese manufacturer Ubtech in the car factory is the first "truly unmanned logistics solution in the manufacturing industry worldwide," writes the Chinese business newspaper Jingji Guancha Bao.

Seventy years after the deployment of the first welding robot called "Unimate" in a General Motors factory, a fully automated production has now been realized for the first time, write several Chinese trade media.

For the first time ever, humanoid robots work with driverless vehicles, bridging the last ten meters and achieving truly automated logistics.

Autofach-Portal Yiche

In the automotive industry, as well as in other manufacturing facilities, the "last ten meters" primarily refer to the gap between the warehouse and the production lines. This is often a short distance, in reality, several hundred rather than ten meters long, but one that demands a particularly high level of precision and reliability from the logistics.

Biped sorts boxes

According to the robotics company Ubtech, which has officially been selling the humanoid "Walker S1" since mid-October, they have already received 500 orders for the AI-equipped biped. In addition to BYD, where it is already in use, orders have also been placed by automakers FAW-Volkswagen, Dongfeng Motor, and Geely, reports Interesting Engineering.

In a promotional video from the manufacturer, the Walker S1, which is 1.72 meters tall and weighs 76 kilograms, can be seen lifting and sorting boxes, then loading them onto the trailer of an autonomous transport vehicle called "Chitu." This vehicle transports the cargo out of the warehouse and into the neighboring workshop up to the production line. Before the workpieces can be used in production, several other robots also help out.

Complete automation of manufacturing

It is the first time in the automotive industry that a "coordinated operation between a humanoid robot, an unmanned logistics vehicle, an industrial mobile robot (Wali T3000), and an intelligent MES (Manufacturing Management System) has taken place," writes Yiche.

The team of robots and driverless vehicles has the potential to catapult intelligent logistics in the manufacturing industry from the current stage of semi-automation into the age of complete automation, it states.

Despite its population of 1.4 billion people, China also struggles with a worker shortage in the manufacturing industry. Particularly for physically demanding, repetitive tasks in logistics, there are fewer and fewer applicants.

Skills shortage in China

Young university graduates in China are also increasingly reluctant to take jobs involving manual work and potentially dangerous materials. At the same time, the demands on workers are growing. Vocational training institutes can no longer meet the demand for sufficiently trained employees, according to Chinese experts.

Some studies predict that in just a few years, up to 30 million workers could be missing in the Chinese manufacturing industry. A spokesperson for Ubtech told the South China Morning Post that in highly automated factories, about 70 percent of all work is currently performed by robots.

Interesting also for electronics manufacturers and logistics service providers

His company could help manufacturers replace another 20 percent of the remaining workforce. The remaining human workers could then be employed for more intelligent tasks such as collaboration or tool management, according to the spokesperson of the robotics company.

Not only in car production, but also for electronics manufacturers and logistics service providers, the new combination of humanoids and driverless vehicles is of interest, according to the reports. Ubtech is already supplying Apple's supplier Foxconn and the courier company SF Express, reports Interesting Engineering.

*Henrik Bork, longtime China correspondent for the German 'Süddeutsche Zeitung' and the 'Frankfurter Rundschau', is Managing Director at Asia Waypoint, a consultancy specializing in China, based in Beijing.