Restless chrome androids are set to march onto the production line at BMW.
The German automotive company recently
signed a commercial agreement with the California-based robot manufacturer Figure to use its humanoid automatons in “automotive manufacturing environments.”
The
Figure 01 is a 5’6″ android that weighs 132.2 pounds and can supposedly work for five hours before requiring a recharge. According to the company, the humanistic simulacrum can move at a speed of nearly 2.7 mph and can lift up to 44 pounds. In addition to stumbling about where humans once worked and lifting boxes, the android can apparently also open doors, use tools, and climb stairs.
Robert Engelhorn, president and CEO of BMW Manufacturing,
said in a statement, “The automotive industry, and with it the production of vehicles, is evolving rapidly. BMW Manufacturing is committed to integrating innovative technologies in our production systems to drive our future forward as an industry leader and innovator.”
“The use of general purpose robot solutions has the potential to make productivity more efficient, to support the growing demands of our consumers, and to enable our team to focus on the transformation ahead of us,” added Engelhorn.
Brett Adcock, CEO and founder of Figure, said, “Single-purpose robotics have saturated the commercial market for decades, but the potential of general purpose robotics is completely untapped. Figure’s robots will enable companies to increase productivity, reduce costs, and create a safer and more consistent environment.”
Figure’s agreement with BMW reportedly allows for a staged deployment. First, the robotics company will look for “initial use cases” where its androids can be deployed. Once opportunities for automation are identified — likely areas presently occupied by inspirited human workers — Figure’s androids will be trotted out, beginning with the car company’s facility in Spartanburg, South Carolina.
Adcock
told Axios, “I think the next 24 months you’ll start seeing humanoid robots in the real world.”
The relative cost of this replacement workforce will likely be driven down by fierce competition. After all, Figure’s deal with BMW may be the first of its kind, but it’s not the only android game in town.
Sanctuary AI, a Vancouver-based company, has created a general-purpose robot called
Phoenix. Powered by the Carbon AI control system, Phoenix has a competitive payload of 55 pounds and a max speed of 3 mph.
Norway’s OpenAI-backed 1X has already made its
EVE android available for purchase. EVE is 6’2″, 192 pounds and has a top speed of 9 mph. It tops the Figure 01 on battery life with a six-hour run time and can lift 33 pounds. While autonomous, human operators can also reportedly control a fleet of EVEs, tapping into their cameras.
Ix admits on its website that its androids can automate jobs traditionally performed by humans, suggesting that those put out of work “can also be trained for more complex roles.”
Boston Dynamics’
Atlas is another competitor in the field, albeit a headless one. Atlas can travel at 2.5 m/s, weighs 196 pounds, and is nearly five feet tall. Unlike other androids, Atlas is relatively nimble and capable of performing various acrobatic feats.
Tesla’s Optimus bot appears to be lagging behind the pack of job-killers. Nevertheless, South African billionaire Elon Musk recently indicated Optimus can now fold a shirt.
Markets and Markets
reported last year that the size of the global android market last year was $1.8 billion. It is, however, projected to grow to $13.8 billion by 2028. This growth is expected to be driven largely by demands in the medical and hospitality sectors. There will reportedly also be opportunities for android deployment in different fields of rescue operations.
The announcement of the Figure-BMW android deal came just days ahead of the release of a
MIT study that suggested that the threat of AI automation soon taking over various human jobs — hyped by previous reports — may be overblown
After conducting a cost breakdown of what it would take to replace various workers on vision-based tasks with AI-powered systems, the researchers concluded, “We find that at today’s costs US businesses would choose not to automate most vision tasks that have ‘AI Exposure,’ and that only 23 [percent] of worker wages being paid for vision tasks would be attractive to automate.”
Neil Thompson, co-author of the study and an investigator at MIT Computer Science & Artificial Intelligence Laboratory,
noted that the study indicated “a more gradual integration of AI into various sectors, contrasting with the often hypothesized rapid AI-driven job displacement.”
Adcock suggested to Axios that Figure 01 “can do basically everything a human can.”
The Figure CEO is not the only one who appears bullish on the prospect of a tin man workforce.
The Wall Street Journal
indicated earlier this month that expensive union contracts have prompted greater interest among carmakers in automation.
Laurie Harbour, president of Michigan manufacturing consulting firm Harbour Results, told the Journal, “Automation is the future. More so than we’ve ever seen.”
“There’s robots in every factory,” United Auto Workers president Shawn Fain recently told Independent Sen. Bernie Sanders (Vt.). “The companies have used technology as a way to cut jobs instead of interjecting robots and technology to make our jobs easier.”
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