TECH & AI
A wheeled humanoid robot has been successfully deployed at Ford’ s Innovation Centre in Germany. Over six weeks, Humanoid’ s HMND 01 Alpha robot was tasked with manipulating large, metal car body parts and handling totes.
The AI-powered robot sustained a full hour of uninterrupted operation and achieved 97 % reliability in fully autonomous pick-and-place tasks. The robot was also able to locate thin, sheet-metal body components and move them to a chosen location.
Artem Sokolov, Founder and CEO of Humanoid, says:“ Innovation only matters when it works on the factory floor. Our joint POC with Ford in Cologne proves that humanoid robots are ready for real industrial tasks— not years from now, but today. Our teams moved from discussion to a live on-site demonstration in six weeks, and the results exceeded every benchmark. The POC showed that rapid progress is possible when both sides align on scope and maintain commitment to safety.”
Autonomous robots and self-driving vehicles This humanoid robot is not Ford’ s first venture into the field of robotics. In 2019, Ford partnered with Agility Robotics to explore self-driving vehicles for delivery and robots that can carry deliveries from the car to the front door. Digit is a twolegged robot designed and built by Agility to walk like a human and lift packages weighing up to 40 pounds.
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