There is no separating factories of any kind, especially the ones that produce machines and machinery of some kind, from robots. These construction tools have been around since forever ago, performing repetitive tasks that are too hard or boring for humans to handle. But until recently we were only talking about robot tools, in the forms of robotic arms, conveyors, transport vehicles, welding machines, the likes. Not anymore, as humanoid robots are beginning to take over.
It was only a matter of time, then, until humanoid robots would appear and start taking roles humans used to fill. We’re seeing that the most in the automotive industry, where a series of such machines have already been deployed for testing purposes, proving that technology has evolved enough for us to really start thinking about replacing human beings in some of the most demanding jobs.
We’ve written a thing or two about each of these robots in the past, but we thought it’s about time to create a list of the most promising humanoid machines, the ones that have been involved to some extent in carmaking in recent times, or are about to in the near future. So grab some popcorn, sit back, and read a bit about the future.
Boston Dynamics Atlas
Boston Dynamics is perhaps the most famous robot maker out there. Having been around for a little more than three decades, the company became notorious when it launched a robot dog called Spot, and followed up on that with the industrial Stretch.
Back in 2013, Boston introduced the first version of the Atlas, a humanoid robot that has become over the years capable of performing things few thought possible of a machine. The most recent incarnation of the Atlas was unveiled in April 2024.
The thing is about the size of a human, weighing 196 pounds (89 kg) and standing five feet (1.5 meters) tall. It features 28 electrically powered joints, and a head that now has a light right around it, kind of making it look like the Robot in the sci-fi TV series Lost in Space.
Atlas is capable of lifting and maneuvering loads, including irregular objects, and can make its way over unstructured, difficult terrain, even if it was never exposed to it before. It already does this using the same software as before, but Boston Dynamics plans to replace its mind with a solution called Orbit, already featured in the Spot robot dog.
The Atlas has been designed with industrial applications in mind. It hasn’t been seen on the floor of a car factory yet, but given how Boston Dynamics is now owned by Hyundai, it won’t be long until that happens.
Sanctuary AI Phoenix
Photo: Sanctuary AI
The name Sanctuary AI is short for Sanctuary Cognitive Systems Corporation, but probably neither form rings any bells. We’re talking about a Canadian company born in 2018 with the goal of building “a human-like brain and system that’s capable of executing 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 that weigh as much as 55 pounds (25 kg), and it generally displays the same mobility as a human being.
Phoenix is powered by a piece of software called Carbon, which gives the machine both memory and, with the help of sensors, microphones, and cameras, the ability to see, hear, and fell touch.
The robot has already been put through its paces in the factories of the Canadian Tire Corporation (CTC). It the near future, it will be fielded in the facilities of European auto supplier Magna, where it will be integrated into yet undisclosed automotive manufacturing processes.
Apptronik Apollo
Photo: Apptronik
Another young company in the robotics business is Texas-based Apptronik. It was created back in 2016 as a spinout of the Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Texas at Austin, and it recently made the news thanks to something called Apollo.
This white and pure-looking machine has been desgined to do its thing in warehouses. It stands five feet eight inches (173 cm) tall, weighs 160 pounds (73 kg), and can carry as much as 55 pounds (25 kg) of stuff in its arms.
Unlike the other robots on this list, Apollo has been designed to be modular, meaning it can be ordered as a torso mounted on a wheeled platform, a torso mounted on a stationary stand, or with two legs.
It is the legged version that is about to be tested by German carmaker Mercedes-Benz in the very near future at some of its facilities, probably filling in roles as a tool for logistics and delivery of assembly kits.
The brain that will guide the robot among its human worker peers will be based on the NVDIA Project GR00T learning system. It will take input from a series of sensors and cameras, and it will literally learn to perform task, as opposed to simply copying them.
Figure 02
Photo: BMW
The most recent and most involved humanoid robot in car manufacturing is the 02, made by a company called Figure that’s just two years old. That’s because the 02 is, as far as I know, the only humanoid robot in the world to have been directly involved in assembling a car. Marginally, but still.
The achievement took place in German carmaker BMW’s facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina, and it was made public in August 2024. What did the robot do, exactly? It inserted sheet metal parts into specific fixtures, and these were later assembled as part of the chassis of BMW models.
The 02 is about the size of a human as well. It stands five feet six inches (167 cm) tall and weighs 154 pounds (70 kg). It can walk at speeds of up to 2.7 mph (4.3 kph), and it is packed to the teeth with cameras, microphones, and sensors.
The thing about this robot is that it can perform human-like, two-handed tasks on its own, like placing complex parts in set locations with millimeter accuracy.
NASA Valkyrie
Photo: NASA
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 Valkyrieis the most recent evolution of a breed of robots that dates back decades ago.
The robot is an evolution of the R5 presented in 2013, and it has many similarities with the Robonaut 2 that was put through its paces on the International Space Station (ISS). Several other ideas tested over the years contributed to making the Valkyrie as well.
The machine is 6 feet (1.8 meters) tall and weighs a solid 300 pounds (136 kg). Each of its legs is powered by five elastic actuators, the torso is where computer and power pieces of hardware were installed, four actuators power each hand, and the head houses a pair of Intel Core i7 processors, a perceptual sensor, infrared, laser, and camera visualization tools.
In July 2023 NASA announced it will deploy the robot in Perth, Western Australia, to work its magic in the facilities of a local oil and gas production company called Woodside Energy.
That’s not exactly a car factory, true, but it should have been more than enough to prove the robot can work on uncrewed offshore rigs. That, in turn, would mean it could also be used in space exploration.
Tesla Optimus
Photo: Tesla Optimus | X
As one of the leading carmakers in the world, Tesla wants a piece of humanoid robot action as well, and that’s what it showed back in 2023. Called Optimus, after the Autobot from Transformers, it’s a general-purpose bipedal creature that can handle a variety of tasks, from folding shirts to walking the Tesla factory floor.
The thing has a height of five feet eight inches (173 cm) and tips the scales at 128 pounds (58 kg). It can carry, while moving, a load weighing just 45 pounds (20 kg), and can reach speeds of five mph (eight kph).
No less than 28 actuators and 11 degrees of freedom in the hands allow the robot to perform human-like tasks, but we’re yet to see it working on a factory floor. That’s because Optimus is still in development, so it hasn’t really been put to true tests just yet.
The above robots are the most high-profile ones in the industry today, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t others out there. We’ll keep an eye out for more such machines and update this story as soon as we know more about them.