China: China accelerates intelligent manufacturing with humanoid robots.

Storyline China accelerates intelligent manufacturing with humanoid robots Humanoid robots are populating logistics hubs and factory floors across China, as the country accelerates its adoption of intelligent manufacturing. At a logistics center in south China's Guangdong Province, humanoid robots can identify, move and sort up to 1,200 parcels per hour. Wang Lei, head, operations and maintenance unit, Guangzhou Postal Processing Center, China Post: "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." Humanoids are also playing a bigger role in manufacturing settings. At this car factory in Beijing, humanoid robots practice things like picking and placing parts, placing flexible cover plates, and folding boxes. Xiang Diyun, deputy general manager, Robotics Division, Xiaomi: "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." According to a recent report from Smart Analytics Global, there were more than 19,000 humanoid robots shipped globally in the first half of the year, a more than 270 percent annual increase. [Restrictions: No access Chinese mainland]