BMW is testing humanoid robots in its production facility in Leipzig. The company has only just announced that initial trials started in December, and following a further test in April, a pilot project with a single-digit number of robots from the manufacturer Hexagon is to begin in the summer.
According to BMW, the aim of the project is to integrate humanoid robotics into the existing series production of cars and to test further possible applications in battery manufacturing and component production. "Pilot projects help us to test and further develop the use of physical AI - i.e. AI-supported, adaptive robots - under real industrial conditions," says Michael Nikolaides from BMW.
This is not the first time the Munich-based company has used AI. At their US plant in Spartanburg, they used two robots from Figure AI for ten months. The robots removed and positioned sheet metal parts for welding processes on around 30,000 cars. In this context, BMW speaks of real added value under real production conditions.
