Amid a flurry of dismissals that humanoid robots are not quite ready for use in industry, we are seeing an increasing number of test cases being implemented to prove out the current state of humanoid robot technology. A few high-profile examples of this have been noted at Amazon, GXO Logistics and Mercedes-Benz.
Further news on this front comes from Schaeffler, the Germany-based motion technology company. Schaeffler has made a minority investment in Agility Robotics, creator of the Digit humanoid robot. In addition to this investment, Schaeffler has signed an agreement with Agility Robotics to purchase its humanoid robots for use across Schaeffler’s global plant network.
Andreas Schick, COO of Schaeffler AG, said, “In disruptive times, implementing innovative manufacturing solutions is crucial to be successful. Here, humanoids play an important role. We, at Schaeffler, will integrate this technology into our operations and see the potential to deploy a significant number of humanoids in our global network of 100 plants by 2030.”
Schaeffler has been making news this past year with its adoption of other cutting-edge technologies such as AI copilots. The company has started using generative artificial intelligence across its design, engineering, manufacturing and operational lifecycle of its products. In particular, Schaeffler uses Siemens Industrial Copilot technology to automate engineering and operations tasks on its production machinery.
Underscoring the narrow, but rapid uptake of humanoid robot testing in industry this past year, Agility Robotics noted that its work with contract logistics provider GXO marked industry’s first robots-as-a-service (RaaS) deployment of humanoid robots.
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