LISTEN: The Next Plane You Fly On May Be Built by Humanoid Robots

The next time you board a flight, it will be with the knowledge that a humanoid robot may have helped build the airplane.Airbus, Boeing’s primary rival in producing passenger aircraft, has reached a deal with China-based robotics company UBTech. According to Bloomberg, the aerospace company wants to have UBTech’s Walker S2 bots, which stand about 5’ 9” tall, integrated into production lines.UBTech says the Walker S2 is specifically designed for applications like industrial manufacturing and warehouse and logistics. The bot comes with lots of fairly common features like dexterous hands, flexible design, and enhanced perception and awareness. But what sets the Walker S2 apart from its humanoid contemporaries is its battery-swapping ability. The bot can walk over to a charging station when it’s low on juice and pop in a fresh battery in a matter of minutes, resulting in very little production downtime.