Humanoid robots are moving from logistics hubs to factory floors across China, as the country accelerates its drive into intelligent manufacturing.
At a logistics center in Guangzhou, south China's Guangdong Province, humanoid robots are being deployed for parcel identification, grabbing, and sorting, with each unit capable of handling up to 1,200 parcels per hour.
"This position involves relatively intense and repetitive labor. We introduced this embodied intelligent robot in March this year. It is now capable of recognition, grasping, flipping, placing, and sorting. We expect the robots to reach a processing capacity of 1,400 pieces per hour in the fourth quarter of this year and 1,600 pieces per hour in the first quarter of next year. At the same time, we are also exploring the deployment of robots in loading, unloading, and warehouse allocation," said Wang Lei, head of operations and maintenance unit of Guangzhou Postal Processing Center of China Post.
Beyond logistics, humanoid robots are also taking on an increasing number of production tasks in manufacturing settings.
At an automobile factory in Beijing's E-Town area, which is now home to over 300 robotics companies and a complete industrial chain, humanoid robots are practicing fine operations such as picking and placing parts, placing flexible cover plates, and folding boxes.
"The first task is picking and placing objects. The second involves finger operations of dexterous hands, and the third requires fine tactile assembly and manipulation. At a single workstation, they can achieve a success rate of 98 percent," said Xiang Diyun, deputy general manager of Robotics Division of Chinese tech firm Xiaomi.
China accelerates intelligent manufacturing with humanoid robots
