There is no separation between factories of any kind, especially those that produce machines and machinery of some sort, and robots. These construction tools have been around forever, performing repetitive tasks that are too difficult or boring for humans to handle. But until recently, it was all about robotic tools, in the form of robotic arms, conveyor belts, transport vehicles, welding machines, and the like. Not anymore, because humanoid robots are starting to take over.
In nature, there are few forms of living creatures as effective as humans when it comes to making things. The bipedal stance allows for the use of fingered arms (including opposable thumbs) to control tools and instruments, and this has led to incredible displays of human ingenuity over the years, from art to spaceships.
It was only a matter of time, then, before humanoid robots appeared and began to take over the roles that humans used to fill. We are seeing this especially in the automotive industry, where a number of such machines have already been deployed for testing purposes, demonstrating that technology has evolved enough for us to really start thinking about replacing humans in some of the most demanding jobs.
We’ve written a couple of things about each of these robots in the past, but we thought it was time to make a list of the most promising humanoid machines, those that have been involved in some way in car manufacturing in recent times, or that will be in the near future. So grab some popcorn, sit back, and read up on the future.
Boston Dynamics Atlas
Photo: Boston Dynamics
Boston Dynamics is perhaps the most famous robot manufacturer around. Having been around for a little over three decades, the company rose to fame when it released a robot dog named Spot, and followed it up with the industrial Stretch.
In 2013, Boston unveiled the first iteration of Atlas, a humanoid robot that over the years has become capable of doing things few thought possible for a machine. The most recent incarnation of Atlas was unveiled in April 2024.
The thing is as big as a human, weighs 196 pounds (89 kg), and stands five feet (1.5 meters) tall. It has 28 electrically powered joints and a head that now has a light around it, making it look a bit like the Robot from the sci-fi TV series Lost in Space.
Atlas can lift and maneuver loads, including uneven objects, and can navigate difficult, unstructured terrain, even if it has never been exposed to it before. It already does this using the same software as before, but Boston Dynamics plans to replace its brain with a solution called Orbit, which is already in use in the robot dog Spot.
The Atlas was designed with industrial applications in mind. It hasn't yet been seen on a car factory floor, but since Boston Dynamics is now owned by Hyundai, it won't be long before that happens.
AI Phoenix Sanctuary
Photo: AI Sanctuary
The name Sanctuary AI is short for Sanctuary Cognitive Systems Corporation, but you probably don't know what either form means. We're talking about a Canadian company founded in 2018 with the goal of building “a human-like brain and system, capable of performing human-like tasks.”
The company's first product is called Phoenix, and it's a humanoid robot that weighs 155 pounds (70 kg) and stands five feet, seven inches (170 cm) tall. The thing can carry payloads weighing up to 55 pounds (25 kg) and generally exhibits the same mobility as a human.
Phoenix is powered by software called Carbon, which gives the machine both memory and, through sensors, microphones and cameras, the ability to see, hear and touch.
The robot has already been tested at Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC) factories. In the near future, it will be deployed at European automotive supplier Magna’s facilities, where it will be integrated into as yet undisclosed automotive manufacturing processes.
Apptronic Apollo
Photo: Apptronik
Another young company in the robotics space is Texas-based Apptronik. It was created in 2016 as a spin-out of the Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, and has recently made headlines for something called Apollo.
This white, clean-looking machine was designed to do its duty in warehouses. It is 173 cm tall, weighs 73 kg and can carry up to 25 kg of stuff in its arms.
Unlike the other robots on this list, Apollo was designed to be modular, meaning it can be ordered as a torso mounted on a wheeled platform, as a torso mounted on a fixed stand, or with two legs.
This is the legged version that will soon be tested by the German car manufacturer Mercedes-Benz at some of its facilities, likely to act as a logistics and delivery tool for assembly kits.
The brain that will guide the robot among its fellow human workers will be based on the NVDIA Project GR00T learning system. It will take input from a series of sensors and cameras and literally learn to perform a task, rather than simply copying it.
Figure 02
Photo: BMW
The newest and most involved humanoid robot in car manufacturing is the 02, made by a two-year-old company called Figure. That's because the 02 is, as far as I know, the only humanoid robot in the world to have been directly involved in car assembly. Marginally, but still.
The achievement was achieved at the German automaker BMW’s plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and was made public in August 2024. What exactly did the robot do? It inserted sheet metal parts into specific fixtures, which were then assembled as part of the chassis of BMW models.
The 02 is also about the size of a human. It is 167 cm tall and weighs 70 kg. It can walk at speeds of up to 4.3 km/h and is packed with cameras, microphones and sensors.
The special feature of this robot is that it can autonomously perform human-like tasks using two hands, such as placing complex parts into pre-set positions with millimeter precision.
NASA's Valkyrie
Photo: NASA
The American space agency NASA has always been at the forefront of R&D, and the same goes for the field of robotics. And the humanoid Valkyrie is the latest evolution of a race of robots that dates back decades.
The robot is an evolution of the R5 presented in 2013 and has many similarities with the Robonaut 2 that was tested on the International Space Station (ISS). Several other ideas tested over the years also contributed to the creation of the Valkyrie.
The machine stands 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall and weighs a whopping 300 pounds (136 kg). Each of its legs is powered by five spring actuators, the torso is where the computer and power hardware is installed, four actuators power each hand, and the head houses a pair of Intel Core i7 processors, a perceptual sensor, infrared, laser, and camera viewing tools.
In July 2023, NASA announced that it will deploy the robot in Perth, Western Australia, to work its magic on the facilities of a local oil and gas company called Woodside Energy.
It's not exactly a car factory, true, but it should have been more than enough to demonstrate that the robot can work on unmanned offshore platforms. That, in turn, would mean it could also be used in space exploration.
Tesla Optimus
Photo: Tesla Optimus | X
As one of the world’s leading automakers, Tesla also wants a piece of humanoid robotics action, and that’s what it showed off in 2023. Called Optimus, after the Autobot from Transformers, it’s a multipurpose bipedal creature capable of a variety of tasks, from folding shirts to walking around Tesla’s production floor.
The thing is 173 cm tall and weighs 58 kg. It can carry, while moving, a load that weighs only 20 kg and can reach speeds of 8 km/h.
No less than 28 actuators and 11 degrees of freedom in its hands allow the robot to perform human-like tasks, but we have yet to see it working in a factory. That's because Optimus is still in development, so it hasn't been subjected to real testing yet.
The robots above are the most popular in the industry today, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t others out there. We’ll be keeping an eye out for more of these machines and will update this story as we learn more.