Chinese heavy equipment giant Zoomlion isn’t planning to deploy an army of humanoid robots on its factory floors in the future – they’ve got robots on the job right now. The company is already using these ‘bots to power its “third growth curve,” and they’ve been churning out a new excavator every six minutes for years.
While other companies trade on promises and plans, Zoomlion has had robots setting the pace at its “Smart City” complex in Changsha, a network of 12 smart factories and over 300 lines, since at least 2022. (!?) And Smart City isn’t limited to building excavators at that high speed either; the company reportedly kicks out a new scissor lift every 7.5 minutes, a concrete pump every 27 minutes, and a truck crane every 18.
The company credits AI integration into its manufacturing, management, and construction plans, as well as the robots themselves, for their incredible speed.
In 2024, the company’s robotic workforce shifted to what the company calls, “embodied-intelligence humanoid robots.” These leverage Zoomlion’s full-stack self-development capabilities and are now deployed in factory logistics, loading and unloading, pre-assembly, and quality inspection, forming early productivity use cases.
True to the promises being made elsewhere, the Zoomlion robots’ humanoid form allows them to act as flexible units performing all sorts of tasks like loading/unloading, pre-assembly, and quality inspection. The company says these are still only early productivity use cases, supported by a massive training ground with over 100 workstations and datasets designed for rapid iteration of human-robot collaboration.
These advancements are embedded in Zoomlion’s intelligent manufacturing ecosystem. Its industrial internet platform connects over 1.7 million units of equipment worldwide, spanning 18 categories and more than 600 models, and collects over 30,000 data parameters to create petabyte-scale industrial assets. This infrastructure powers the continuous evolution of both industrial and humanoid robotics, enabling real-time coordination and adaptive production.
Zoomlion is positioning this robotics platform as its next major revenue engine. The company is already developing specialized robot variants for construction, agriculture, mowing, and firefighting, suggesting these factory workers are just the first draft – and it won’t be keeping these to itself: the next iteration will be available for sale, and (Zoomlion hopes) will represent the future of automated physical labor.
Electrek’s Take
Last week, I wrote an article about a fresh order for more than forty new Freightliner eCascadia electric semi trucks being deployed in Texas. In the comments, Harry Tuttle wrote, “Hmmm. Not Teslas. How about that.”
I wonder what Henry’s going to write on this one.
SOURCE | IMAGES: Zoomlion, via PR Newswire.
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