Robots Appear at Renault Motor's Production Plant, Expecting Productivity to Improve Dramatically

*This content was translated by AI.

French car manufacturer Renault unveiled its humanoid robot "Calvin-40" developed to maximize production efficiency in the factory, presenting a blueprint for future manufacturing processes. Renault developed the robot in just 40 days in collaboration with French robot start-up Wandercraft, and has established a detailed roadmap to speed up production and reduce costs by deploying a total of 350 robots at actual production sites by 2027.

Unlike previously disclosed humanoid robots introduced by Tesla's Optimus, Hyundai Motor, Mercedes-Benz and BMW, which focused on human-like appearances and sophisticated hand gestures, Calvin-40 adopted a headless "headless" design to focus thoroughly on practicality. Thierry Charbe, Renault's general manager of production and quality, clarified Calvin-40's development philosophy, emphasizing that it is not interested in human-like robots themselves, but only focused on value as efficient and affordable automation devices.

The Calvin-40 has large, round hands instead of sophisticated fingers, specializing in repetitive and arduous heavy handling tasks such as lifting tires or carrying heavy body panels rather than delicate assembly tasks. This design relieves the physical burden on workers, while providing the advantage of stably moving heavy loads even in narrow spaces where wheeled robots are difficult to enter. Renault has already cut production time for its electric vehicles, the 5 and the Twingo, to less than 10 hours, and has set a goal of cutting production time per vehicle by an additional 30% through the full-scale introduction of the Calvin-40. While sophisticated assembly processes still require human skilled workers, robots are expected to take the overall level of factory automation to the next level by replacing dangerous and simple iterations.

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*This content was translated by AI.