Humanoid robots in the car plant: UBTECH and FAW-Volkswagen to test logistics

Chinese robot maker UBTECH and FAW-Volkswagen, the joint venture between Volkswagen and state-owned FAW in China, are expanding their cooperation. According to a UBTECH statement on 8 October, the two will develop and test humanoid robot applications for factory logistics and set up demonstration sites in production. The background is carmakers' push for more flexible manufacturing of more individually specified vehicles.

The partners have worked together since July 2024, when FAW-Volkswagen opened production lines at its Qingdao plant to the humanoid industrial robot Walker S, which tightened bolts, installed components and moved parts. Later, the Walker S Lite model trained there on quality checks of finished cars – the video shows this earlier deployment.

The companies did not say which robot model is planned for logistics, at which plants testing will take place, how many robots are planned or when they will work routinely. UBTECH is meanwhile expanding capacity: a new 14,000-square-metre factory in Liuzhou in southern China has been running since 12 September and, according to the regional government, can build one robot every ten minutes.