China opens factory where robots build robots

China has unveiled a smart factory in Liuzhou in which robots help assemble other industrial humanoid robots, with operator UBTECH aiming to turn out one machine every 10 minutes and more than 10,000 units annually.

Operated by UBTECH, the 14,000-square-metre facility mainly produces the company's Walker S and Cruzr series, and it relies on a digital "smart brain" to coordinate production planning, material movement and quality control. Furthermore, Cruzr Y1 and Cruzr S2 robots handle tasks such as unloading, storage and the transport of components across the production floor. Each robot is assigned a unique serial number, thereby enabling its progress to be tracked throughout the manufacturing process.

Once assembled, finished robots undergo more than four hours of testing and a 360-degree visual inspection before being sent to an automated warehouse. Moreover, the plant deploys collaborative robotic arms, automated guided vehicles and driverless forklifts, which allow different robot models to be produced on the same assembly line. Notably, the warehouse can store 112 humanoid robots in just 65 square metres.

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Meanwhile, China's wider industrial robotics sector is also expanding rapidly. Official data show that the country produced 98,677 industrial robots in July, up 30.2% year on year, whereas output during January-July reached 635,056 units, an increase of 28.5%.