Kia’s plant to deploy Boston Dynamics Spot for Factory Safety service. A ‘factory safety service robot’ based on Boston Dynamic’s quadruped, Spot®, will go into pilot operation at Kia’s plant in South Korea.
- Service for Factory Safety Office staff can remotely view and assess industrial sites thanks to AI, autonomous navigation, and teleoperation technology.
- The Group is developing robotics in collaboration with Boston Dynamics to improve people’s lives, assist smart manufacturing, and advance mobility solutions.
SEOUL, Sept. 17, 2021 – The Hyundai Motor Group (the Group) today announced the pilot operation of the ‘Factory Safety Service Robot (hereinafter referred to as the Robot)’, a robot for industrial site safety, at Kia’s facility in South Korea. On its YouTube channel, the Group has also posted a video of the Robot.
The Robot is based on Boston Dynamics’ Spot quadruped robot, plus AI, autonomous navigation, teleoperation technologies, and a computing payload (AI Processing Service Unit) created by the Group’s Robotics Lab for use in diverse industrial activities.
“The Factory Safety Service Robot is the first collaboration project with Boston Dynamics. The Robot will help detect risks and secure people’s safety in industrial sites,” said Dong Jin Hyun, Head of Hyundai Motor Group Robotics Lab. “We will also continue to create smart services that detect dangers at industrial sites and help support a safe work environment through continuous collaborations with Boston Dynamics.”
The Robot can recognize people around it, monitor high-temperature situations and potential fire threats, and determine whether a door is open or closed thanks to an inbuilt thermal camera and 3D LiDAR. The Robot may be operated remotely via a secure webpage that displays a Livestream of its movements across the factory, allowing office employees to monitor industrial regions from afar. The AI technology in the Robot also allows it to detect risks and issue alarms to management via a protected portal.
Based on these capabilities, the Robot may send images of on-site circumstances and an activity log to the control center in real-time, as well as assist a quick response in the event of an emergency by sounding an alarm on the control homepage. Managers can use manual teleoperation to take a closer look at critical industrial sites anytime they need to. Multiple Factory Service Safety Robots can be connected to the control system at the same time to monitor different zones.
The quadruped robot can move through tight places and detect blind regions that are difficult to see with the naked eye. By incorporating the Group’s technologies into Boston Dynamics’ Spot robot, the robot gains more autonomy. The Robot is equipped with a variety of technologies ideal for autonomous patrol services within industrial site contexts, including task management and deep learning-based vision technology, based on the Group’s experience with service robot development.
The Group has included AI for detecting people, a thermal camera for detecting high-temperature risks, LiDAR for recognizing door openings, and navigation technology that allows it to move autonomously along designated areas within industrial sites in the Robot, all of which can be expanded to other types of mobile robot platforms.
The Group will employ the Robot to supplement late-night security patrols and provide a safer environment for workers at Kia’s facility in South Korea as part of a pilot operation. Before expanding its patrol regions and considering additional deployment to other industrial sites, the Group will go over the Robot’s proof of concept and examine its efficacy as well as its application.
The Group purchased a controlling interest in Boston Dynamics earlier this year to create robotic technologies that improve people’s lives and promote safety. The Group’s industrial sites, autonomous cars, and future Urban Air Mobility (UAM) solutions will benefit from the advancement of robotics technologies.