BMW advances humanoid robot pilots in Europe with Hexagon’s AEON
Follows a successful pilot in the US using robots from Figure
In late February, BMW announced its first European deployment of humanoid robots at its Leipzig plant in Germany, launching a pilot with Hexagon Robotics’ AEON for multifunctional tasks in high-voltage battery assembly and exterior component manufacturing.
This follows a successful 2025 pilot at its Spartanburg plant in the US, using Figure AI’s Figure 02 (and ongoing Figure 03 evaluations) for precise sheet metal positioning in welding on over 30,000 X3 vehicles – handling >90,000 components, ~1.2 million steps, and ~1,250 operating hours in extended shifts.
BMW’s cross-continental pilots – with Figure AI in the US and now Hexagon’s AEON in Europe – alongside Agility Robotics’ Toyota Canada agreement, provide further tangible proof that humanoid robotics is advancing beyond initial hype and pilots into real production-floor integration in automotive manufacturing and logistics. These OEM efforts shift focus from viral demos to paid, task-specific operations tackling repetitive, precision or ergonomically challenging work.
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Oxide, metal and NdFeB price assessments, market analysis and data
Adamas take:
In both cases, the robots’ relatively high DOF counts (~34 DOF for AEON, ~28 DOF for Figure 02) correlate with more actuated joints/motors per robot – typically one high-performance servo or torque motor per DOF segment – boosting average NdFeB magnet content per unit for efficient, precise, energy-dense motion in demanding factory environments.
While deployment scales remain modest (small fleets, not yet mass rollouts), these balanced developments across vendors and regions underscore evidence-based adoption in automotive – complementing broader robotics momentum.
As Adamas continues to highlight, humanoid robotics represents a major medium-term demand driver for NdFeB in industrial automation, beyond EVs, with upside growing as pilots demonstrate ROI and lead to fleet expansions.
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