BMW Group final week introduced a pilot mission to deploy wheeled humanoids from Hexagon Robotics at its Leipzig plant in Germany. With the mission, BMW needs to combine humanoids into present automotive manufacturing and discover future functions for humanoids in battery and part manufacturing.
“Digitalisation improves the competitiveness of our manufacturing – right here in Europe and worldwide. The symbiosis of engineering experience and synthetic intelligence opens up fully new prospects in manufacturing,” stated Milan Nedeljković, a member of the Board of Administration of BMW AG, Manufacturing.
Hexagon Robotics launched its semi-humanoid robotic AEON in June 2025. Following an preliminary theoretical analysis section and profitable laboratory exams, BMW launched an preliminary take a look at deployment at its Group Plant Leipzig in December 2025. The corporate plans to do one other take a look at deployment from April 2026 to make sure full integration for the precise pilot section beginning in summer season 2026.
Whereas AEON does function two legs, every leg has a wheel as a substitute of a foot. Hexagon stated this permits the robotic roll throughout even surfaces, shifting quicker than strolling, and step when wanted.
With the Leipzig deployment, BMW stated it’s specializing in testing a multifunctional utility of the robotic. This utility relies on AEON’s design, which permits for a variety of hand and gripper parts or scanning instruments to be hooked up. Throughout testing and later within the pilot section, BMW will use the robotic within the meeting of excessive‑voltage batteries and in part manufacturing.
BMW provides updates about its deployment with Determine
In its announcement about piloting AEON, BMW additionally talked about its earlier use of Determine’s legged humanoids. In 2024, BMW deployed humanoids from Determine AI in its Spartanburg plant within the U.S. The corporate stated the pilot confirmed that bodily AI can ship measurable added worth below real-world circumstances.
Inside 10 months, the Determine 02 humanoid supported the manufacturing of greater than 30,000 BMW X3s, working 10-hour shifts day by day from Monday to Friday. Determine 02 eliminated and positioned sheet metallic elements for the welding course of, a job BMW stated is especially demanding by way of pace and accuracy whereas additionally being bodily exhausting. In whole, the robotic moved greater than 90,000 elements and coated roughly 1.2 million steps in round 1,250 working hours.
BMW stated it concerned all areas of the manufacturing IT infrastructure, occupational security, manufacturing course of administration, and store flooring logistics at an early stage of its take a look at phases, with Determine 02. This, it stated, led to a faster-than-expected transition from the laboratory to the precise manufacturing atmosphere. Determine may shortly switch the movement sequences Determine 02 realized within the lab to steady shift operations. Moreover, BMW built-in the robotic with its BMW Good Robotics ecosystem utilizing standardized interfaces.
BMW chosen the physique store for humanoid deployment, because it already had a excessive diploma of automation. Staff on this space already had intensive expertise in integrating new applied sciences and processes. For instance, materials provide on the road is already carried out virtually completely through automated sensible transport robots (STR). Moreover, BMW claimed the robotic turned a pure a part of staff’ workdays through the mission.
The BMW Group and Determine are at present evaluating extra use circumstances for deploying the Determine 03 robotic.
Humanoids have exploded in recognition in recent times, with increasingly robotics firms releasing their very own variations. Nonetheless, business deployments have been sluggish thus far. Hyundai Motor Group has plans to buy hundreds of Boston Dynamics’ Atlas robots within the coming years.
In 2024, GXO formally deployed a small fleet of Digit humanoids from Agility Robotics at a Spanx facility in Georgia. Later, Schaeffler AG made a minority funding in Agility and deliberate to purchase Digit robots to be used throughout its international plant community. These marked the primary paid deployments for humanoid robots. Extra just lately, Agility signed an settlement with Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada to deploy its Digit robotic in its amenities after a profitable year-long pilot.
