Newscasts - This humanoid robot could help with labor gaps, its developers say
17/06/2025 15:53
Click the following link to watch video: https://share.newscasts.refinitiv.com/link?entryId=1_zg04m0kn&referenceId=tag:reuters.com,2025:newsml_RW263116062025RP1_K15&pageId=Newscasts Source: 'Reuters - General news videos' Description: Hexagon, a global technology firm specializing in digital reality solutions, has developed a humanoid robot it calls AEON to help address worker shortages in various industries. It will start work in live industrial settings later this year, the company said. Kristy Kilburn reports. Short Link: https://refini.tv/3HLXBru Video Transcript: A global technology firm has designed this humanoid robot - My name is AEON. I'm a working humanoid from Zurich. -to address what it says are worker shortages in various industries. The company, Hexagon, says AEON will start work later this year in live industrial settings, testing its ability to complement the workforce. AEON is our latest humanoid robot. It's quite special for us. It's the sixth generation that we have in the last two years. That's Arnaud Robert, the President of Hexagon’s Robotics division. He says AEON is meant to fill a gap in the workforce. We're seeing a labor shortage actually in many industries, automotive, transportation and so on, where the older generation is going into retirement. The middle generation is not interested in those tasks anymore and the younger generation for sure wants to do other things. Most industrial robots remain low-tech, with fixed arms for welding, painting, and assembly, but advancements in artificial intelligence and hardware are increasing their sophistication. Today my colleagues and I will showcase what we can do. Unlike other robotic companies focused on human-like steps, Robert says AEON’s wheels allow it to move four times faster than humans can walk. AEON's camera and sensor suite allows it to map out its surrounding area with exceptional agility, versatility, and awareness, says Hexagon. The bot is packed with 12 cameras and 22 sensors. One of the highlights is the panoramic camera system that you see up here. It's made for perceived environment. So these cameras under here, they go all the way around 360. Here we got an infrared camera and autofocus camera for inspection, and then we got additional collision sensors in the torso. We can go over stairs. We can move rapidly. We can pick and place multiple objects at the same time and we can even scan a door for defects. The robot can also learn tasks in different ways including using a form of AI called 'imitation learning.' That means an operative could simply show the robot what to do, as they would with any new colleague. We can do actually operator tasks, which means literally you could put an instrument in AEON's hands, and it can do some work that would be done by a human today. AEON's abilities mean the robot could be absorbed into the workflow in many industrial and commercial settings, Robert says. So, we definitely are focusing on industrial settings first. Then we will look at hospitality. Probably there's a lot of different use cases in hospitality, it could be hotels, it could be elderly care management facilities and so on. Driven by advances in AI and hardware, Bank of America forecasts annual global humanoid robot shipments will reach 1 million units by 2030.