Bayerische Motoren Werke (BMW) Group has recently announced the deployment of the AEON humanoid robot at its Leipzig factory in Germany, marking its first introduction of embodied intelligence technology into its European production system. The project is a collaboration between BMW and Hexagon Robotics from Switzerland, aiming to integrate humanoid robots into the mass production process of automobiles, with a focus on high-voltage battery assembly and component manufacturing.
The AEON robot features a human-like body design, with wheel-end dynamic mobility capabilities, and can adapt to various processes by flexibly replacing grippers and scanning tools. The project has completed its first round of testing by the end of 2025, and is planned for a second test this April, followed by a large-scale pilot in the summer.
This move draws on the successful experience of BMW's Spartanburg plant in the United States. Previous pilot data showed that humanoid robots supported the production of 30,000 BMW X3 vehicles within 10 months, completing 90,000 precise material handling tasks. The application in Europe indicates that BMW is accelerating the construction of a global embodied intelligent manufacturing ecosystem, driving traditional production lines toward a highly automated future.
