The ground plan for Determine AI’s BotQ manufacturing facility. | Supply: Determine AI
Humanoid robots have been slowly making their approach into the workforce. Nevertheless, one query stays unanswered: How will robotics firms make these advanced programs at scale? Determine AI Inc. final week launched BotQ, its new high-volume manufacturing facility for humanoids. The corporate mentioned BotQ’s first-generation manufacturing line might be able to manufacturing as much as 12,000 robots per yr.
Determine AI mentioned is bringing its manufacturing operations in-house to regulate the construct course of and high quality. The firm mentioned this may even assist assure that it delivers high-functioning robots to the market.
San Jose, Calif.-based Determine mentioned it has spent the previous eight months constructing an environment friendly and scalable manufacturing course of from the bottom up. It mentioned it additionally spent the previous six months making a basis to help quantity manufacturing with software program together with manufacturing execution system (MES), product lifecycle administration (PLM), enterprise useful resource planning (ERP), and warehouse administration system (WMS).
Ultimately, Determine mentioned it is going to use humanoid robots in its manufacturing course of to construct different humanoids. As extra robots work on manufacturing strains, the corporate mentioned it is going to be capable of enhance its capability. Determine expects to begin later this yr.
Within the technique of retooling its robotic structure, Determine began two new groups, a security workforce, and a reliability workforce. As well as, the corporate mentioned it’s growing its give attention to on robotic reliability.
The reliability workforce at BotQ is accountable for working extremely accelerated lifecycle checks. These will assist the corporate perceive the lifespan of its robotic.
The reliability workforce wants specialised gear, together with high-temperature ovens, devoted actuator testers, and failure evaluation gear to know root trigger failures. Utilizing this information, Determine mentioned it will possibly inform the robotic designers of enhancements wanted to make sure its reliability metrics are met.
Determine AI introduced in late 2024 that its robots are transferring improvement and trials to industrial use. The corporate has delivered its Determine 02 system to a paying buyer.
Determine AI gained a 2024 RBR50 award for its fast tempo of innovation. Since rising from stealth in January 2023, the corporate has iterated on its humanoid, examined its robotic on a manufacturing line, and delivered programs to a paying buyer.
Determine AI designs for top manufacturing charges
After constructing and internally manufacturing Determine 02, the Determine workforce recorded and analyzed cycle instances for each course of, from half fabrication to remaining meeting. It discovered the biggest driver of meeting time began on the root: half rely and manufacturing processes.
Determine initially designed Determine 02 as a prototype. This meant that it used excessive complexity, tight tolerance, and sluggish laptop numerical management (CNC) machining processes. CNC from billet is a good course of for prototyping and holds worth for high-tolerance parts. Nevertheless, it doesn’t scale nicely when attempting to drastically cut back each half prices and time to make parts.
As well as, Determine mentioned in a weblog submit that it has labored to scale back its half rely. It takes time to hitch two elements collectively, so the corporate emphasised combining many elements into one to scale back cycle time.
All of those issues went into Determine’s next-generation robotic, Determine 03. This robotic is the corporate’s manufacturing robotic constructed for affordability and high-volume manufacturing.
To attain excessive manufacturing charges, Determine switched to tooled processes similar to injection molding, diecasting, steel injection molding, and stamping. The corporate claimed they enabled it to save lots of 1000’s of hours on manufacturing.
Determine mentioned elements that beforehand spent over per week on a CNC machine can now be manufactured in below 20 seconds with advanced metal molds. Whereas switching to those processes comes with a excessive capital value, the corporate mentioned it expects a fast return on funding (ROI) when contemplating its robotic volumes for 2025 and past.
Determine invests in its provide chain
In contrast to industrial automation, humanoid robots don’t but have well-established provide chains with varied tiers of producers constructing a system’s modules. Determine mentioned this led it to design nearly the complete robotic from scratch. This contains the actuators, motors, sensors, battery pack, and electronics.
Determine mentioned the dearth of a mature provide chain has been one of many greatest hurdles it has confronted when defining the place and the way elements can be made. So, it determined to focus closely on the meeting of its core know-how: actuators, palms, and batteries. The corporate may name on exterior distributors as wanted to fabricate piece elements.
As well as, the firm employed a workforce of world provide managers to assist type sturdy partnerships with distributors who’ve the experience to supply its advanced parts. Determine 03 mentioned it has greater than three-dozen commodities, a lot of which require distinctive processes similar to motor winding, versatile OLED screens, or exact optical designs.
Determine chosen all of its exterior companions to have the ability to scale with it. The corporate claimed that its provide chain can simply scale to 100,000 robots or 3 million actuators within the subsequent 4 years.
Determine decides the place to automate
After securing its provide chain, Determine wanted to construct up its manufacturing workforce and infrastructure. The corporate mentioned it employed specialists in designing manufacturing strains, optimizing them, and understanding tips on how to optimize the method of turning supplies into merchandise.
Determine defined that its manufacturing engineers are liable for breaking the robotic meeting up into sub-stations, choosing the right instruments to hitch the elements collectively, designing and procuring fixtures for the meeting line, and understanding tips on how to take a look at the elements as they quickly flip right into a robotic. The engineers additionally present design-change suggestions to the corporate’s mechanical, electrical, and software program groups to lower manufacturing cycle time.
One key facet of its new product manufacturing is knowing which operations on the manufacturing line must be automated and which must be handbook. Traditionally, humanoid robots have been inbuilt low volumes, and automation has been uncommon. Determine has chosen within the brief time period to automate key parts of the method by taking a look at metrics similar to high quality and velocity.
An instance of automation for high quality is the automated grease-dispensing station for its motor gearboxes. The corporate mentioned it will possibly management the situation and quantity of the gearbox grease way more precisely with an automatic device than with a handbook grease gun.
An instance of automation for velocity is Determine’s cell take a look at and cargo station. Right here, a robotic is way sooner than a human at choosing up, scanning, and testing each battery cell earlier than meeting into the battery pack.
Creating the infrastructure to permit robots to construct robots
To face up a profitable manufacturing facility, Determine AI added new instruments to its improvement course of. It mentioned the MES is the spine of its manufacturing operation, and the corporate is constructing it in-house.
The MES integrates all points of manufacturing right into a single, real-time digital ecosystem. From monitoring elements by way of the availability chain to monitoring meeting effectivity and guaranteeing stringent high quality management, Determine mentioned the MES permits it to function at peak effectivity.
Determine mentioned its MES integrates with its Web of Issues (IoT) units. This permits it to watch course of circulate, monitor family tree, and supply a digital database of all of the take a look at information associated to each part within the robotic.
The corporate added that BotQ will combine its humanoids into its meeting strains. With this month’s introduction of the Helix modal, Determine mentioned it will possibly use its personal robots to assemble key parts on its manufacturing line.
The humanoids might act as materials handlers, transferring items between completely different stations while not having to put in cumbersome and rigid conveyor programs.
The mixture of AI-driven automation and human oversight permits for a hybrid workforce that maximizes velocity, precision, and adaptableness, mentioned Determine. The usage of robots to construct extra robots will speed up manufacturing timelines whereas minimizing human intervention in repetitive duties, the corporate mentioned.
On the 2025 Robotics Summit & Expo in Boston on April 30 and Could 1, periods will embody “The State of Humanoids” and “Redesigning Atlas: Boston Dynamics on the Way forward for Humanoids.”
Register now so you do not miss out!