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BMW Group to deploy humanoid robots in production in Germany for the first time

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Re: BMW Group to deploy humanoid robots in production in Germany for the first time

#41

Post by barrkel »

pinkmuffinere wrote: post #27
krona wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is top-tier vagueposting.

Feel free to ask for more details if you have specific questions! I worked in robotics for many years, I have some decent familiarity with this space. Here’s some more detailed thoughts “for free”: Humanoid robotics are largely a publicity stunt. Our actuators, sensors, and algorithms are better adapted to other form factors. The nice thing about humanoids is that you (in theory) don’t have to change the interface, s…

Apart from dexterity, bipedal machines are unstable and require dynamic adjustment to stay upright, as I understand it.

The mechanism humans use to stay upright after an unexpected loss of balance, flailing etc., would not be safe to be around when a robot employs them.

Re: BMW Group to deploy humanoid robots in production in Germany for the first time

#42

Post by paffdragon »

kingjimmy wrote: post #34
Maxion wrote: post #23

Whenever I hear german companies mention digitalisation, I get reminded that they still use pen and pencil in production environments to log data, pass those sheets to secreteries who enter the data into legacy systems so data analysts can enter it into another system that then has an integration with SAP. Data from SAP then flows onwards to some buzzword filled Azure product that costs a few million a month from whi…

They make connecting SAP so difficult... this is the only way

It's not how it works. You suppose to contract a consulting company that contracts some offshore company to connect you to SAP.

Re: BMW Group to deploy humanoid robots in production in Germany for the first time

#43

Post by df2dfs »

torginus wrote: post #35
dmix wrote: post #24

Seems to be this European robotics company https://robotics.hexagon.com/product/ https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/hexagon-robotics-ai-software-a...

My prediction is that by the time humanoid robots actually make it to the factory floor, they'll be pretty un-humanoid. 90% of car manufacturing is done by oldschool industrial robots, and I've had people point out that heavy use of industrial robots are basically unique to the car industry. You might see a robot arm here and there in other industries, but it's somewhat rare, usually its all purpose-built machines or…

I agree and for me personally this is very easy to see and understand.

Why do you think the vast majority of people fail to see it like this? Guys like Musk obvious hype it up as he now has tied the valuation of the firms he owns and operates to this story.

Re: BMW Group to deploy humanoid robots in production in Germany for the first time

#44

Post by torginus »

amelius wrote: post #9

Meanwhile China has dark factories.

I think this is a myth - Chinese factories don't seem to be automated to a higher degree than European ones, and in any case are still full of Kuka, Fanuc and ABB robots.

I think there's a domestic brand or two that's gaining marketshare, but they're not there yet.

There's a myth of Chinese high-tech (esp in cars), that is not to say their stuff isn't technologically advanced, but the characterization that Chinese tech has left Europeans' behind just does not pass muster when one looks at mechanic videos of Chinese EVs.

Their cars look fancy and are full of futuristic screens and sensors, but the suspension setup and lot of engineering behind them is not exactly cutting edge.

That's why a lot of car reviewers say that a lot of their EVs don't drive particularly well

Re: BMW Group to deploy humanoid robots in production in Germany for the first time

#45

Post by usrusr »

Flavius wrote: post #7
givemeethekeys wrote: post #5

That's excellent! I look forward to much cheaper cars now that the robots will be making them for the masses.

Oh, absolutely. Because history clearly shows that when multi-billion dollar corporations save money on labor, they immediately pass those savings directly to the consumer.

Give it time: at some point nobody will be consumer except for the equity lords. Savings will reach them.

Re: BMW Group to deploy humanoid robots in production in Germany for the first time

#46

Post by 3eb7988a1663 »

torginus wrote: post #35
dmix wrote: post #24

Seems to be this European robotics company https://robotics.hexagon.com/product/ https://blogs.nvidia.com/blog/hexagon-robotics-ai-software-a...

My prediction is that by the time humanoid robots actually make it to the factory floor, they'll be pretty un-humanoid. 90% of car manufacturing is done by oldschool industrial robots, and I've had people point out that heavy use of industrial robots are basically unique to the car industry. You might see a robot arm here and there in other industries, but it's somewhat rare, usually its all purpose-built machines or…

You reminded me of the hilarious SV pizza making robot startup which has its own robot arm.

In this video you see the unnecessary robot arm move the pizza to the oven: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bN45bTsBUW8

For contrast a How it is Made video of frozen pizzas being created at dozens (hundreds?) per minute: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0UrSIOtv8a0

Re: BMW Group to deploy humanoid robots in production in Germany for the first time

#47

Post by georgeecollins »

df2dfs wrote: post #43
torginus wrote: post #35

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My prediction is that by the time humanoid robots actually make it to the factory floor, they'll be pretty un-humanoid. 90% of car manufacturing is done by oldschool industrial robots, and I've had people point out that heavy use of industrial robots are basically unique to the car industry. You might see a robot arm here and there in other industries, but it's somewhat rare, usually its all purpose-built machines or…

I agree and for me personally this is very easy to see and understand. Why do you think the vast majority of people fail to see it like this? Guys like Musk obvious hype it up as he now has tied the valuation of the firms he owns and operates to this story.

Because so much infrastructure is in humanoid form. If you can make something that can manipulate two hands on arms that are positioned and moved like human arms, you could just put that torso into a lot of situations to replace a human without a lot of retooling. That's the dream I think.

Re: BMW Group to deploy humanoid robots in production in Germany for the first time

#48

Post by dgxyz »

Maxion wrote: post #23

Whenever I hear german companies mention digitalisation, I get reminded that they still use pen and pencil in production environments to log data, pass those sheets to secreteries who enter the data into legacy systems so data analysts can enter it into another system that then has an integration with SAP. Data from SAP then flows onwards to some buzzword filled Azure product that costs a few million a month from whi…

I've seen worse. For 2 years I received the results weekly, that I didn't ask for, of a $1m a year burn reporting stack. This was launched during a massive back patting ceremony like something out of Severance.

So one day I stared at it randomly and noticed that the pie chart percentages on one thing didn't even add up to 100. Looked back at history and it turned out this had been the case since day one. Spent a day taking it to bits and a good 50% of it made no sense at all and people had been making business decisions on it without checking it.

And to remediate it? They replaced it with some AI generated slop which is even worse.

Re: BMW Group to deploy humanoid robots in production in Germany for the first time

#49

Post by fires10 »

dgxyz wrote: post #48
Maxion wrote: post #23

Whenever I hear german companies mention digitalisation, I get reminded that they still use pen and pencil in production environments to log data, pass those sheets to secreteries who enter the data into legacy systems so data analysts can enter it into another system that then has an integration with SAP. Data from SAP then flows onwards to some buzzword filled Azure product that costs a few million a month from whi…

I've seen worse. For 2 years I received the results weekly, that I didn't ask for, of a $1m a year burn reporting stack. This was launched during a massive back patting ceremony like something out of Severance. So one day I stared at it randomly and noticed that the pie chart percentages on one thing didn't even add up to 100. Looked back at history and it turned out this had been the case since day one. Spent a day…

I have seen this way to often in other areas. That is the push here as well AI can sort through it. Too many people are held to account for not meeting what amounts to made up numbers.
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