| Thanks for reading Hyperdrive, Bloomberg's newsletter on the future of the auto world. Artificial intelligence is making industrial robots smarter, allowing manufacturing plants to run leaner, faster and more foolproof — with automakers the world over testing the new technology. "We're definitely on the front lines of some big things happening," said Russ Tedrake, an MIT professor and head of robotics research at the Toyota Research Institute, who pioneered an algorithmic breakthrough using AI to teach machines to learn new skills by themselves. In an MIT lab littered with experimental droids programmed to walk or fly, Tedrake says the next frontier involves neural networks for learning increasingly complex, multi-step tasks such as teaching robots to make pizzas from scratch. TRI has built a humanoid helper called Punyo whose upper torso wears plush fabric-covered air bladders to hide all the hard edges. Another test robot looks like a shopping cart with arms than can navigate a grocery store aisle and pick up sundries.  Russ Tedrake, TRI vice president of robotics research and MIT professor. Source: Toyota Research Institute Carmakers have been at the vanguard of efforts to automate more assembly line processes to trim labor costs and bolster worker safety. The automotive industry is second only to electronics manufacturers in deploying robots in factories globally, with about one-quarter of new installations in 2022, the latest data available, according to the Frankfurt-based International Federation of Robotics. China is setting the pace, accounting for nearly 40% of the world's total operating stock of industrial robots, followed by Japan. Japanese auto parts maker Denso said earlier this month that it plans to build a plant "capable of 24-hour unmanned operation, significantly improving production efficiency." The facility will manufacture electronic control units for advanced driver-assistance systems. A shift to electric vehicles is providing new opportunities for carmakers to boost productivity with the latest robotic technology. EVs require fewer parts and can be assembled more easily with prefabricated modules. Tesla Chief Executive Officer Elon Musk has been a leading advocate of this trend, musing in a post on his social media platform X about humanoid robots on production lines as soon as 2025.  Robots have learned new skills such as beating eggs to complete a recipe. Source: Toyota Research Institute Industry experts say that much progress is being made in next-generation robotics, but the notion of armies of autonomous androids putting together an entire automobile on fully automated assembly lines is still more science fiction than near-term reality. "Everyone wants to build more cars, faster, with more reliability and less space. But AI isn't about robots taking over the world or anything like that," said Mike Cicco, head of US operations for Fanuc, the world's largest commercial robot manufacturer. "It's about taking something that's a pretty complicated thing and making it easier for a plant worker to use." Industrial robots have been deployed at auto plants for decades, largely relegated to fenced-off areas for arduous and dangerous tasks such as spot welding and sheet metal stamping. More recently, robotic arms have been integrated onto assembly lines, lifting heavier parts and tightening nuts and bolts into place with precision. Collaborative robots — or cobots — equipped with cameras can handle jobs like end-of-line inspections for loose bolts or simple retrieval of items used on the assembly line. Amazon is testing a humanoid robot to handle mundane chores at its warehouses. The price of these smart machines has fallen roughly by half over the past decade, according to industry officials, which has accelerated their deployment.  A robot tested for shopping skills in a grocery store setting. Source: Toyota Research Institute The next wave of automation is helping with trickier tasks like removing shipped parts packed in boxes and setting them onto trays. That requires a higher level of spatial reasoning. Generative AI is allowing robots to do more complex tasks — like pouring liquids or turning knobs — and adopting new skill sets more quickly based on learned behavior. Much like virtual assistance programs such as ChatGPT have evolved from large language models, large behavioral models are being used to program robots. The holy grail for the auto industry is finding a way to automate the production and installation of wire harnesses — the unwieldy bundles of taped electrical wires that make up the central nerve system of every car. Stringing them together and properly affixing them to the interior of a vehicle is a cumbersome and labor-intensive job, and one that has resisted automation. "No way you could feed a wire harness through a vehicle with a robot today," said Bob Young, Toyota's head of supply chain in North America, who added that using cobots for other tasks has become commonplace. At some of its plants in the US and Japan, Toyota has created mock production lines to test the limits of AI-powered robots on time-consuming logistical tasks. One such job involved unpacking shipping totes. What the carmaker found is that a relatively simple job for humans can confound a robot, which is easily dumbfounded by, well, dunnage. That's industry jargon for the soft padding and packing materials used to protect hard parts during shipment from suppliers to vehicle assembly plants.  Camry vehicles move down the assembly line at the Toyota Motor Corp.'s manufacturing plant in Georgetown, Kentucky. Photographer: Luke Sharrett/Bloomberg The human brain can quickly grasp where the part is and how best to take it out, but that's not so easy for a machine — even one equipped with state-of-the-art chips and sensors. "There's a lot of excitement around what is the technology is capable of and people are building these humanoid robots, but I also think that there's a lot of challenges to getting these things to work practically and safely," said Max Bajracharya, senior vice president of robotics at the Toyota Research Institute. "It's going to be a relatively long road before we see these kinds of humanoid technologies sort of working side-by-side" with flesh and blood workers. — By Chester Dawson - Mercedes cuts annual outlook on China weakness.
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 The Tesla plant in Grünheide, Germany. Photographer: Krisztian Bocsi/Bloomberg Tesla's German factory was supposed to revitalize the region near Berlin with thousands of jobs and millions in extra tax revenue. It succeeded, but discontent over the site could still help deliver the state of Brandenburg to the far-right AfD in elections on Sunday. The €5 billion ($5.5 billion) Grünheide facility has long been a flashpoint for controversy. Locals have accused the factory of tainting the groundwater, and a proposal to expand it was rejected by a large majority of residents in a referendum in February. Yet when the local parliament approved a scaled-down version of that plan in May, only the AfD and the left-wing party voted against it. All the mainstream parties gave it their backing. "That was a slap in people's faces," said Manuela Hoyer, head of a local activist group opposing the Tesla expansion. | 
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