Mercedes is trialing humanoid robots for ‘low skill, repetitive’ tasks

Mercedes besides yet plans to measure however Apollo handles delivering totes of kitted parts. | Image: Apptronik

Mercedes-Benz is the latest automotive institution to proceedings however humanoid robots could beryllium utilized to automate “low skill, physically challenging, manual labor.” On Friday, robotics institution Apptronik announced it had entered into a commercialized statement with Mercedes to aviator however “highly precocious robotics” similar Apollo — Apptronik’s 160-pound bipedal robot — tin beryllium utilized successful manufacturing. The quality follows a akin aviator announced by BMW successful January.

Apptronik says that Mercedes is exploring usage cases similar having Apollo inspect and present components to quality accumulation enactment workers. Neither institution has disclosed immoderate figures for the statement oregon however galore Apollo robots are being trialed.

According to Apptronik, humanoid robots would let conveyance manufacturers to commencement automating manufacturing tasks without having to redesign their existing facilities. The institution says its attack alternatively “centers connected automating immoderate physically demanding, repetitive and dull tasks for which it is progressively hard to find reliable workers.”

The Financial Times reports that Mercedes has started trialing an undisclosed fig of Apollo robots astatine a mill successful Hungary. The state has experienced labour shortages for respective years arsenic workers migrate to Western Europe, with Audi and Mercedes having some expressed concerns regarding labour proviso successful 2016.

“This is simply a caller frontier and we privation to recognize the imaginable some for robotics and automotive manufacturing to capable labour gaps successful areas specified arsenic debased skill, repetitive and physically demanding enactment and to escaped up our highly skilled squad members connected the enactment to physique the world’s astir desirable cars,” said Mercedes’ accumulation main Jörg Burzer.

Apollo stands astatine 5 feet, 8 inches tall, with Apptronik claiming the robot tin assistance objects up to 55 pounds. Its “face” is delightfully goofy, but different its signifier origin isn’t excessively antithetic from different humanoid robots successful development, specified arsenic Tesla’s Optimus robot, oregon the Figure 01 robots that BMW is trialing astatine its South Carolina manufacturing facility. Other bipedal robots similar Agility Robotics’ “Digit” are besides being piloted successful Amazon’s US warehouses.