Airbus to develop humanoid robots

The programme will be dedicated to the research and development of humanoid robotic technology to perform complex manufacturing tasks in factories. The majority of research will be conducted at the CNRS-AIST Joint Robotics Laboratory (JRL), which was established in 2004 on the AIST campus in Tsukuba, Japan. Airbus Group and the CNRS-AIST JRL are also collaborating on COMANOID, a four-year research project launched in early 2015 as part of the European Commission’s Horizon 2020 programme, which aims at deploying humanoid robots to achieve non-added value tasks that have been identified by Airbus Group in civilian airliner assembly operations. Introducing humanoid technology into aeronautical assembly lines is expected to support human operators in performing the most tedious and physically demanding parts of the manufacturing process, freeing up highly skilled workers to perform higher, value-added tasks. Designing robots with a humanoid form will enhance both their dexterity and versatility, making them suitable for tackling a large range of tasks in a variety of environments – all without having to make significant changes to manufacturing processes originally designed for humans. Realising viable humanoid robotics, however, will require researchers to develop new algorithms in multi-contact planning and control to give robots the sort of human ‘hand-eye coordination’ that will allow them to function effectively in confined and poorly accessible spaces. These algorithms will be tested on a set of use-cases drawn from different Airbus Group Divisions and plants, in which the realism and complexity will be increased every year.