Humanoid
Boston Dynamics today opened its Robotics Metaplant Application Center, or RMAC, at Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America near Savannah, Ga. The facility serves as a testbed and training center for integrating the company’s Atlas humanoids directly into parent Hyundai’s automotive manufacturing operations.
RMAC represents a shift from Boston Dynamics’ earlier humanoid work. According to Zack Jackowski, chief product and technology officer at Boston Dynamics, previous trials were time-boxed deployments focused on lessons needed to design a scaled-up presence. Those efforts were small-scale and very hands-on with the engineering team, he told The Robot Report. RMAC is the result of those lessons: a permanent facility focused on both data collection and application testing that operates in strong coordination with the auto plant.
RMAC is the result of those lessons: a permanent facility focused on both data collection and application testing that operates in strong coordination with the auto plant.
Jackowski described the facility as a “Robot Behavior Factory,” which takes real parts, fixtures, and workcells; adds Atlas robots and skilled pilots; and produces diverse, high-quality data for behavior training. The center is intended to serve as the anchor point for growing all of the capabilities necessary to deploy Atlas globally.
“Together with Hyundai Motor Group, we are pioneering physical AI at enterprise scale,” Jackowski stated. He added that the company has established a clear strategy to optimize its supply chain, production, testing, and deployment capabilities for Atlas, and that RMAC reinforces a shared ambition to create a future where robots amplify human potential by making work safer and more productive.
Boston Dynamics framed the opening around the operational realities of deploying Atlas to an operating facility, including the question of the right mix of off-site, on-site, and simulation data to learn policies with acceptable reliability. The company said the facility is part of its path toward general-purpose automation, with developers training humanoid robots on specific skill sets.
Source: The Robot Report