Xiaomi humanoid robots complete 8-hour shift at EV factory
What's the story
Xiaomi has shared a video of its humanoid robots completing an entire eight-hour shift at its electric vehicle (EV) factory. The bots were seen sorting side covers for the company's cars, all on their own. They even detected and corrected their own mistakes during the process, showcasing a level of autonomy that is quite impressive in the field of robotics.
Progress report
The video shows the entire sorting process
The video, shared by Xiaomi Tech on X, shows the robots performing a series of tasks such as pulling side covers from bins, carrying them to storage racks, and placing them into slots.
The footage also displays a running clock of cumulative working time and an "Autonomous, 100x Speed" label in the corner.
According to Xiaomi, this feat marks another step toward real-world industrial deployment for its humanoid bots.
Milestone achievements
A year-long program to integrate humanoids into production
This is the third milestone in a year-long program by Xiaomi.
In March, a humanoid was deployed as an "intern" at its Beijing EV factory to install self-tapping nuts.
The bot achieved a 90.2% success rate over three hours, fast enough to meet the station's 76-second cycle time.
By July, the success rate improved to 98%, and two more complex tasks were added, including side-cover sorting seen in this week's video.
Expansion strategy
Xiaomi's ambitious plans for mass humanoid deployment
Xiaomi's CEO, Lei Jun, had previously announced plans to deploy humanoid robots en masse across its factories in the next five years.
The company also revealed that its open-source Xiaomi-Robotics-1 AI model, trained on 100,000 hours of real-world robot data, has begun trial runs in Xiaomi staff apartments.
In a 30-minute run, it completed over 50 task chains across three rooms.
Unanswered queries
Questions remain about the extent of robot autonomy
Despite the impressive demonstration, Xiaomi has not provided specific details about the number of parts sorted by the robots, their success rate over eight hours, or how often human intervention was required.
The company also hasn't clarified how these bots remained powered for an entire shift - whether through battery swaps, a tether, or charging breaks.
These unanswered questions leave room for skepticism about the true level of autonomy achieved in this demonstration.