BMW Is Experimenting With Humanoid Robots to Speed Up Production

The r o b o t s a re here —and they may be coming for our jobs.

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The tech company Figure recently debuted its Figure 02 humanoid robot, an AI-powered machine designed to produce goods and services alongside—and in place of—human beings, Uncrate reported . The 5-foot-6, 154-pound robot is meant to be fully autonomous, allowing it to work with real people to increase output and to step in for humans when certain tasks pose serious risks.

“We are excited to unveil Figure 02, our second-generation humanoid robot, which recently completed successful testing at the BMW Group Plant Spartanburg,” Brett Adcock, the founder and CEO of Figure, said in a statement. “Figure 02 has significant technical advancements, which enable the robot to perform a wide range of complex tasks fully autonomously.”

Figure 02 can do all of this because it’s built similarly to a real human: Its hands have the same strength as ours, and it can open doors and use tools, Uncrate noted. Similarly, its arms and legs allow it to climb stairs, lift boxes, put items on shelves, and maneuver tight spaces. Plus, it can speak, learn from its mistakes, and use “common sense” to function. With a payload of about 45 pounds and a runtime of five hours, Figure 02 uses all of these skills, making it what the company calls “the world’s first commercially viable” robot.

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It’s already been put to use in tests at BMW’s plant in Spartanburg, South Carolina. There, Figure 02 placed sheet-metal parts into specific fixtures, which then became part of the cars’ chassis. The marque noted that a robot must be “particularly dexterous” to complete such a process.

“The developments in the field of robotics are very promising,” Milan Nedeljković, a member of the board of management for production at BMW, said in a statement. “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.”

While it’s unclear when—if at all—BMW will implement the Figure 02 humanoids permanently, their use in the automobile production process is a huge step forward for robotics. Who knows which of our items will be handled by humanoid robots in the future?

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