Industrial Strength

Humanoid Robots Are Overkill for Most Factory Work

Hype and complexity don’t really sell in manufacturing, especially when a simpler technology will do.
It’s not clear that industrial customers actually want or need humanoid robots when many manufacturing tasks can be done with fewer degrees of movement.Photographer: Chris Ratcliffe/Bloomberg
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Humanoid robots are having a financial moment as advances in artificial intelligence fuel the promise of greater capabilities. But industrial leaders say fully autonomous robots that meet the strict safety and operational standards of factory assembly lines and construction sites remain a longer-term goal. And it’s not clear that customers actually want or need those machines to look like people anyway.