Three years in the past, Hyundai Motor Group bought Boston Dynamics, the Alphabet startup that focuses on robotic canine named Spot and humanoids that may run into burning buildings to rescue these inside. In case you puzzled what attainable use a twerking robotic canine could be to a serious worldwide company, the reply is — to be the chief of a pack of robots on the Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Heart in Singapore.
This state-of-the-art manufacturing unit has a construct capability of simply 30,000 autos a yr, which is tiny on this planet of producing. However what it will probably do this no different manufacturing unit can is take a web-based order from a buyer who desires a car configured in a sure method and construct an entire car that may be pushed away three hours later.
Hyundai Sensible City Mobility Hub
In a press launch, HMG says HMGICS is a brand new “sensible city mobility hub” idea, which features a extremely automated versatile manufacturing system that gives unprecedented methods for EV consumers to work together with their autos and the Hyundai model. HMGICS symbolizes the Group’s dedication to maneuver ahead with the creation of sustainable, revolutionary mobility options and progressive buyer experiences.
Given its worldwide fame for innovation and variety, Hyundai selected Singapore as the best house for its first sensible city mobility hub. Delivering a human-centric manufacturing method, HMGICS elevates collaboration between individuals, robotics, and AI know-how to new ranges of synchronization. It features a Meta Manufacturing facility, which is a digital twin to the precise manufacturing unit, to permit ultra-rapid responses to altering buyer calls for and manufacturing necessities.
HMGICS is all about producing function constructed autos that meet the exact necessities of particular person prospects. They’ll be capable to order a car from house, or from right here within the facility, select their colour and even choose extremely personalised parts for his or her automotive, then witness it delivered to life, the corporate says. The manufacturing unit already manufactures the IONIQ 5 and the absolutely autonomous IONIQ 5 robotaxi, and can start manufacturing the IONIQ 6 subsequent yr.
“HMGICS is an open and linked city innovation hub that encourages and embraces creativity and collaboration. It seeks to utterly redefine the very idea of producing,” stated Euisun Chung, Hyundai Govt Chair on the HMGICS Grand Opening Ceremony. “We thought exhausting about learn how to meet the various wants of our many purchasers. By combining our manufacturing experience and the most recent innovative applied sciences, the result’s this Innovation Heart — a brand new paradigm of producing.”
Eerily Silent Meeting Line
Tech Radar visited the brand new manufacturing unit after the ceremony and described it as “eerily silent. The partitions, ceilings, and flooring are science lab white and there’s a robotic rigorously tending to quite a lot of salad leaves within the vertical farm that takes satisfaction of place within the entrance corridor.”
One of many causes it’s so quiet is as a result of solely 29 individuals work contained in the seven story city manufacturing unit. Autonomous supply models quietly transfer across the manufacturing unit flooring, cruising up and down the assorted ranges to ship components to the small workforce of engineers engaged on autos in a cell-based manufacturing course of. Every of the greater than 200 robots within the manufacturing unit is ready to full as much as 40 separate duties.
“This isn’t like a standard manufacturing plant,” defined the top of Sensible Manufacturing facility Know-how, Alpesh Patel. “We plan to provide round 70 vehicles a day right here, so it’s no mass manufacturing line, however that’s not the purpose. The pace at which we will react to buyer personalization calls for and cater to bespoke challenge necessities is like little else.”
Spot Is The Crew Chief
So as to fight potential high quality management points, Hyundai has enlisted the assistance of Spot, the robotic canine from Boston Dynamics. Spot will routinely trot out from its charging station to test the car or challenge in query, harnessing the facility of superior digital camera, sensor and AI know-how to scan the car for faults after which report any findings again to the operative and the Digital Command Heart that oversees the complete operation.
Solely when Spot is pleased with the workmanship can the engineer proceed to work on the car. Patel says it cuts high quality management points sometimes discovered on the finish of the method to nearly nothing. As soon as a automotive is completed, the client can take it for a check drive on the ability’s 620 meter rooftop Skytrack.
However greater than a solution to wow prospects, Patel says the ability might be integral to the design and construct of Objective Constructed Automobiles sooner or later. “We wish to invite future mobility suppliers in and permit them to understand their concepts. This facility permits us to be extremely reactive, creating autos for particular necessities, fairly than simply the person’s needs,” he provides.
The Hyundai Digital Command Heart
The guts of the brand new manufacturing unit is the Digital Command Heart the place a handful of extremely expert operatives work surrounded by partitions of screens that may pull up a wealth of sensible manufacturing unit information, checking in on effectivity ranges of every manufacturing cell and predicting when a robotic requires servicing or an element must be ordered lengthy earlier than the necessity arises.
A separate part of the room encompasses a full digital twin of the manufacturing unit flooring — known as a meta manufacturing unit — can run simulations when new manufacturing necessities come up. Patel claims that at the moment, workers within the Digital Command Heart are integral to the operation, however that AI will quickly step up and start taking good care of a lot of the each day performance.
When requested whether or not only one digital command heart may remotely oversee a number of sensible factories like this, Patel stated he didn’t see why not. “That is simply the baseline. We’ve got solely been operational for a couple of weeks. As soon as the AI is in control, it’s going to unencumber the entire workers in there to work on different software program initiatives,” he stated.
Though the brand new manufacturing unit is just too costly for giant scale manufacturing, the Hyundai Innovation Centre will pave the best way for a extremely versatile manufacturing course of that may help within the manufacturing of function constructed autos and sensible mobility options sooner or later. Joseph Hongbum Jung, the CEO of HMGICS, stated that as cities like Singapore get extra congested, they may require smarter transport options to function successfully. He envisions Hyundai being a part of that answer.
Getting ready For The Future
A function constructed car needn’t be a automotive, nonetheless. The workforce at HMGICS said the futuristic manufacturing plant would proceed to adapt to altering calls for, which may embrace the manufacturing of eVTOL city air mobility autos. Hyundai already is working with Supernal, which is already testing an eVTOL idea craft that could possibly be prepared for manufacturing in 2028 — assuming Spot The Marvel Canine approves!
