BMW to Deploy Humanoid Robots at European Car Plant

BMW will place two humanoid robots into production at its Leipzig factory beginning this summer. The robots, manufactured by Hexagon Robotics, are currently undergoing testing at the site. The company stated that the machines will feed parts to manufacturing tools and carry out pick-and-place operations during battery assembly.

Officials said the robots are intended for repetitive or physically demanding work and may help address future labor shortages.

Training combined teleoperation, in which sensors recorded human movements, with reinforcement learning inside a digital twin of the factory created with Nvidia software. The robots stand 1.65 meters tall, weigh 60 kilograms, and can carry up to 15 kilograms for short periods.

Each unit has a three-hour battery life and can swap its own battery in about three minutes. Officials noted that the wheeled design allows the robots to move between stations on the factory floor.

BMW previously used a humanoid robot at its Spartanburg, South Carolina plant, where the machine helped assemble 30,000 model X3 vehicles at human pace. The company has also deployed a four-legged robot for maintenance inspections. Other car manufacturers have conducted similar trials.

The cost of humanoid robots has declined, making it more economical to integrate them into existing assembly lines rather than redesigning factories around fixed automation.