Mercedes trials humanlike robots for ‘demanding and repetitive’ tasks

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Mercedes-Benz is trialling humanlike robots for “demanding and repetitive” tasks in one of its factories as the carmaker finds it increasingly hard to find reliable workers.

Standing at 5ft 8in and weighing 160 pounds, the humanoid Apollo robots from Texan group Apptronik will be used to deliver parts to car assembly lines as well as to carry out quality inspections. Each model can lift up to 55 pounds. 

While use of large mechanical arms to carry out functions from lifting entire cars to installing some parts is common across the auto industry, this is one of the first uses of robots with a human appearance. 

They allow carmakers to increase automation in factories without making expensive changes to their layout, because the robots can walk through spaces designed for people.

The aim is to carry out “physically demanding, repetitive and dull tasks for which it is increasingly hard to find reliable workers”, Mercedes said.

Rival BMW has begun trialling some automatons at one of its factories, as has Chinese start-up Nio, while Tesla has also said it will build robots for use in factories. Earlier this month Elon Musk posted a video of its Optimus models walking gingerly through a plant, and all carrying out some simple functions such as folding at a table. 

Mercedes’ trial is in Hungary, a country facing a labour shortage for auto jobs, and where the unions are less vociferous than in Germany.

“We will have to convince workers and management,” said Mercedes’ production chief Jörg Burzer, showing a clip of one employee shaking hands with his new droidian colleague. 

As they take first steps to roll out the models, he is keen to stress that the robots will not take the jobs of all factory workers.

“For the cars we produce, you need workers, first class workers to master the complexity, to build these wonderful cars,” he added. 

Mercedes and Apptronik plan to work on other potential applications for the machines through their partnership as well.

Apptronik is a spin-off from the Human Centered Robotics Lab at the University of Texas in Austin. 

Jeff Cardenas, co-founder & chief executive of Apptronik, said: “When we set out to build Apollo, an agreement like the one we’re announcing today with Mercedes-Benz was a dream scenario. Mercedes plans to use robotics and Apollo for automating some low skill, physically challenging, manual labour — a model use case which we’ll see other organisations replicate in the months and years to come.”

Replacing expensive workers with robotic alternatives can seem an attractive way to cut spending and improve quality in complex modern auto plants that have very little tolerance for error. 

However, it is not guaranteed to succeed. During the sometimes-chaotic production ramp up of the Tesla Model 3 in 2017, the carmaker tried to replace as many workers as possible with robotic arms, only to tear them out and reinstate manual functions for many of the processes.