BMW Group to deploy humanoid robots in production in Germany for the first time • Hacker News Board

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

#91

Post by throwaway2037 » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 5:04 AM UTC

MBCook wrote: post #82

avaer wrote: post #70

Not sure this counts as "humanoid" any more than the robots we've had in factories for a century... the hands and feet are nothing like a human's, and would not be improved by being more human. It seems they just made the shape of their machine have a vaguely human silhouette so they could ride a hype wave. I'm all for programmable humanoid robots, humans are an awesome human interface, but this ain't it.

That’s generally what it seemed like to me too. Seemed to be human shaped so they could say it’s humanoid… and nothing else. Nothing in the video looked like it couldn’t be done by a more industrial robot shaped robot. And I bet that would be cheaper or easier to make. Then I started reading the text. When I got to the part very early on about deploying “Physical AI” that confirmed it to me. This all seems to be “hum…

I agree with your opening paragraph -- hot take! What would be more interesting, would be to see humanoid robots un/packing and moving boxes in their warehouses. That to me seems like one of the first logical places to deploy humanoid robots to replace (or assist) human workers.

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

#92

Post by tristor » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 5:08 AM UTC

nradov wrote: post #71

dgxyz wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

It's always funny when HN users comment that there are no more opportunities for startups and it's too hard to compete against large, wealthy corporations. The reality is that most of them are so badly managed that competing against them is easy if you're actually competent.

> The reality is that most of them are so badly managed that competing against them is easy if you're actually competent.

The world is a graveyard littered with startups that thought this way. One of the consequences of wealth concentration and monopolies is that it is insufficient to be better than your competitors because your customers are also incompetent. To find product-market fit you not only have to be better, you have to be noticed by someone that cares that you're better and upon reflection confirms you solve a valuable problem.

By way of analogy, it's not enough to realize that MouseCorp makes shitty mousetraps and the local village spends $1M/yr on them. You can make a better mousetrap thinking its worth $1M/yr, or do the deeper look and realize the local village doesn't have a mouse problem but rather has a problem with too many feral cats, and has no interest in buying better mousetraps and once their attention is gained simply stops buying mousetraps altogether. Both parties lacked competence, but that didn't mean there was a market.

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

#93

Post by LarsDu88 » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 5:44 AM UTC

These humanoid robots making cars is always a bit disappointing. If you look at videos of an assembly line the humans do manually dexterous complex tasks like bolting in car seats which are move in by hand, or helping place windshields into position.

The problem humanoid robots solve would be addressed better by simply altering the design of the car to not require humans to do that stuff.

What we actually see is humanoid robots deployed to do tasks that can already be done with simpler robot arms...

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

#94

Post by nradov » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 5:48 AM UTC

tristor wrote: post #92

nradov wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's always funny when HN users comment that there are no more opportunities for startups and it's too hard to compete against large, wealthy corporations. The reality is that most of them are so badly managed that competing against them is easy if you're actually competent.

> The reality is that most of them are so badly managed that competing against them is easy if you're actually competent. The world is a graveyard littered with startups that thought this way. One of the consequences of wealth concentration and monopolies is that it is insufficient to be better than your competitors because your customers are also incompetent. To find product-market fit you not only have to be better…

Right, so don't waste time trying to sell low-margin products to local governments. As the saying goes: it's like trying to shear a pig, too much squealing and not enough wool.

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

#95

Post by stinkbeetle » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 5:51 AM UTC

tristor wrote: post #92

nradov wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's always funny when HN users comment that there are no more opportunities for startups and it's too hard to compete against large, wealthy corporations. The reality is that most of them are so badly managed that competing against them is easy if you're actually competent.

> The reality is that most of them are so badly managed that competing against them is easy if you're actually competent. The world is a graveyard littered with startups that thought this way. One of the consequences of wealth concentration and monopolies is that it is insufficient to be better than your competitors because your customers are also incompetent. To find product-market fit you not only have to be better…

> The world is a graveyard littered with startups that thought this way. One of the consequences of wealth concentration and monopolies is that it is insufficient to be better than your competitors because your customers are also incompetent.

It's less that and more that governments and bureaucrats are corrupted to create barriers tot the market and to turn a blind eye to anti competitive behavior and outright illegal practices. For example huge banking corporations have been caught laundering money for drug cartels and got away with fines -- if your fintech startup tried that on, you would never see the outside of a prison cell.

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

#96

Post by nradov » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 6:19 AM UTC

throwaway2037 wrote: post #89

SoftTalker wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I distinctly remember reading that the entire bill of materials for building a Boeing 747 was managed in Excel. I have not been able to find that claim since then but it was so amazing to me that I remember it. It doesn't really make sense as I think about it now, because the 747 design predates Excel by many years so maybe it was BS.

Assume that later models of the 747 were managed in Excel. No trolling: What is wrong with that? You can write insanely powerful software using (1) formulas on the sheet (which are essentially functional programming) and (2) imperative logic in VBA (HTTP calls, database calls, file system, etc.). For years, I used this model and wrote pretty powerful software. Sometimes, I miss it for the encapsulated system. These d…

There's nothing particularly wrong with it, Excel works great. But almost any complex Excel file is riddled with obscure bugs and the nature of the tool makes it impractical to apply some of the most effective quality control techniques. Like you can't easily do code reviews or write an automated test suite.

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

#97

Post by SvenL » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 6:25 AM UTC

throwaway2037 wrote: post #89

SoftTalker wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I distinctly remember reading that the entire bill of materials for building a Boeing 747 was managed in Excel. I have not been able to find that claim since then but it was so amazing to me that I remember it. It doesn't really make sense as I think about it now, because the 747 design predates Excel by many years so maybe it was BS.

Assume that later models of the 747 were managed in Excel. No trolling: What is wrong with that? You can write insanely powerful software using (1) formulas on the sheet (which are essentially functional programming) and (2) imperative logic in VBA (HTTP calls, database calls, file system, etc.). For years, I used this model and wrote pretty powerful software. Sometimes, I miss it for the encapsulated system. These d…

I second this! Excel is a front end everybody knows and everybody can run. I always got laughed at when I say the biggest competitor of small apps (things like gym diary, meal planner etc.) is excel. Now that it even support python…

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

#98

Post by jarek83 » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 6:44 AM UTC

wenc wrote: post #63

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 used to work for the US side of a German multinational (one of the largest in the world) and discovered the same thing when it came to software. The German side always had slick presentations (they always had good visual marketing) and impressive claims, but whenever I tried to work with their products, I always found the claims overstated and that they hadn't really executed deeply. This despite my German counterp…

BMW's most recent infotainment is a big step backwards to me in both areas - aesthetics and UX. Its previous generation was one of the best in the market also in both. I literally don't consider buying the newest 4-series just because of it, especially of the ultrawide driver's "monitor" - it's just so ugly, and I regret it, since on the outside the car appeals me so much more. I'd rather spend the same on previous year model with better specs.

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

#99

Post by ofrzeta » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 6:46 AM UTC

ofrzeta wrote: post #83

Let me first comment that this is just another publicity stunt and that there will be no useful humanoids in BMW factories in the near future. Then I will read TFA and get back here.

So, nothing to see here. From what I understand the robots are doing pick and place. In the video the robot also gets passed a part from a human worker. So nothing here makes any sense and the tasks could solved with conventional robotics. I guess it is good that the robot can be moved but for this you don't need a two-legged humanoid balancing.

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

#100

Post by pcurve » Thu, Mar 05, 2026, 7:01 AM UTC

wenc wrote: post #63

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 used to work for the US side of a German multinational (one of the largest in the world) and discovered the same thing when it came to software. The German side always had slick presentations (they always had good visual marketing) and impressive claims, but whenever I tried to work with their products, I always found the claims overstated and that they hadn't really executed deeply. This despite my German counterp…

"if you've ever driven a German car, you'll realize that the car was built for engineers and not for end users "

cracks me up. I once leased a BMW for 3 years. By the time I returned the car, I still didn't what all the cryptic buttons for HVAC and other controls. They just refused to follow established automotive ergonomic conventions.

Anyway, my father used to do business with Germans for a long time. He had many interesting stories to share, but one that has always stayed with me is, his disdain for how cheap / penny pinching his German companies and their employees were when doing deals. This was in the 90s, so definitely passed the West Germany glory days.

My take is, in the era of global competition, Germans didn't know how to strike the right balance and effective allocate resources. Where to compromise, and where not to. I don't know if it's sheer stubbornness or they're just wired differently.