Xiaomi has started deploying its self-developed humanoid robots in e-car production.
In an initial test run at the Beijing plant, the machines proved they can already autonomously handle complex assembly tasks and keep pace with the rapid tempo of their human colleagues.
Precision work in a 76-second cycle
The robots are currently being used in the die-casting area – one of the most physically demanding zones in manufacturing.
The task: Picking up and precisely placing nuts as well as transporting material boxes.
The performance: In a test run, the robots achieved 3 hours of autonomous operating time with a success rate of 90.2%.
The tempo: With a cycle time of 76 seconds per component, the robots meet exactly the assembly line specifications for the fastest production cycles.
Brainpower instead of remote control: the VLA model
Xiaomi achieves the breakthrough through an in-house Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model with 4.7 billion parameters.
Learning capability: Instead of rigidly programming every movement, the robot learns through reinforcement learning in virtual environments (simulations), which are then transferred directly to the hardware.
Multisensory: By combining visual data, tactile sense, and joint position perception, the AI can correct obstacles or misplacements in real time.
⚠️ Reality check: more than just marketing?
Xiaomi President Lu Weibing currently still refers to the robots as "interns."
Despite the respectable 90% success rate, the remaining 10% errors are still too high for a fully autonomous fleet in the harsh factory environment. Nevertheless, the trend is irreversible: China is estimated to control over 60% of the global $9 trillion market for humanoids by 2050.
Sources: CNBC, Yahoo Finance, Interesting Engineering
P.S.: See robots live with us in May? Click here.
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