China’s Geely the latest automaker to put humanoid robots to work

UBTech’s humanoid robot Walker S Lite has been deployed to work at the smart factory of Geely’s luxury electric car brand Zeekr.

Walker S Lite is the latest industrial humanoid robot developed by UBTech, China’s biggest humanoid robot manufacturer.

The Shenzhen-based company said the deployment was a result of its partnership with Geely and automated equipment maker Miracle Automation Engineering, another Chinese company.

According to UBTech, the collaboration marks “a significant milestone” in the adoption of advanced robotics in the automotive industry.

Walker S Lite has been working alongside its human counterparts in Zeekr’s smart factory in Ningbo, Zhejiang Province, for 21 consecutive days.

According to UBTech, it packed and secured cargo in the factory’s cargo transport unit – the first humanoid robot in China to perform this task in an auto plant.

In a YouTube video released by the company, the robot is seen carrying loads from different pallets to various assembly lines.

Walker S Lite can lift boxes weighing up to 15 kilograms and is equipped with a semantic navigation system, end-to-end imitation learning, visual precision control, and full-body fine motion control, among other technologies.

Geely is the majority owner of the Swedish car manufacturer Volvo, the British Lotus Group, and London EV Company, the manufacturer of the British capital’s iconic black taxicabs.

The partnership with Geely is not UBTech’s first venture into the car industry. Earlier this year, the company showed off its Walker S robot working on an assembly line at a factory belonging to Nio, a Shanghai-based car manufacturer.

Over in the United States, the Californian startup Figure has forged a partnership with the German auto giant BMW and deployed its own humanoid robot for training at the carmaker’s factory in South Carolina.

Elon Musk said that Tesla would start deploying humanoid robots at some of its facilities by 2025.