FAW-Volkswagen partners with UBTECH Robotics to deploy humanoid robots in smart manufacturing

Beijing (Gasgoo)- On August 13, FAW-Volkswagen's Qingdao branch signed a strategic cooperation agreement with UBTECH Robotics to explore the integration of humanoid robots into automotive manufacturing, the automaker announced on August 20 via WeChat.

The collaboration aims to develop highly intelligent and flexible production lines, paving the way for a new era of automotive super factories.

Signing ceremony; photo credit: FAW-Volkswagen

FAW-Volkswagen's Qingdao plant, which produces the all-new Bora and Audi A3 models, boasts an impressive production capacity of over 1,400 vehicles per day, with a vehicle rolling off the assembly line every 54 seconds. The plant boasts high degree of automation, intelligent processes, smart manufacturing, and digitalization.

Currently, UBTECH's industrial humanoid robot, Walker S Lite, is undergoing trials at FAW-Volkswagen's Qingdao plant, focusing on vehicle quality inspection. Leveraging advanced technologies such as full-body coordination, semantic navigation based on visual and depth information, 3D object precision localization, deep learning-based quality inspection, and large-scale task management, the Walker S Lite can safely navigate the moving production line. The robot collects and processes video streams and depth data from its RGB and RGBD cameras to ensure the proper installation of vehicle components, with inspection results uploaded in real-time to the factory management system.

This integration of humanoid robots with the plant's automation control system enhances the precision and efficiency of complex tasks. The robot's ability to dynamically adjust its operation strategy based on multi-sensor fusion and multimodal large models ensures high-performance, safe operations in the challenging environment of automotive manufacturing.