AEON, a wheeled humanoid robot standing 1.65 metres tall and weighing 60 kilograms that moves at speeds of up to 2.5 metres per second, is at the centre of a pilot project at BMW Group Plant Leipzig, with which the BMW Group is introducing humanoid robots to production in Germany for the first time. It is the first European pilot project involving a humanoid robot in the BMW Group production network. It follows a 2025 pilot at Plant Spartanburg in South Carolina, where over ten months Figure AI’s Figure 02 robot assisted in the production of more than 30,000 BMW X3s, operating five days a week for ten hours per shift, moving over 90,000 components and clocking up some 1,250 operating hours.
“Our aim is to be a technology leader and integrate new technologies into production early. Pilot projects help us test and evolve the use of adaptive AI-enabled robots – also known as ‘physical AI’ – in a real-world industrial setting,” says Michael Nikolaides, Senior Vice President Production Network, Supply Chain at the BMW Group.
BMW says the greatest strength of humanoid robots is their ability to perform repetitive tasks or jobs that require humans to work in physically demanding positions, so that instead of lifting the same heavy component time and again or working while bending down, employees are increasingly using their talents where they count. AEON’s mission is to support people, not replace them: as well as taking on repetitive tasks, it delivers materials to the line, navigating around obstacles.
AEON’s rollout began with a theoretical assessment and laboratory testing. The robot made its operational debut at Plant Leipzig in December 2025, additional testing is scheduled for April 2026, and its full integration into pilot operations is planned for the summer of 2026. At Leipzig, AEON will initially support high-voltage battery assembly and component production. It is being introduced gradually, from battery production for energy modules to component manufacturing for exterior parts, while teams test how workstations can be adapted and which tasks could be suitable.
The pilot is carried out with Hexagon, a longstanding BMW Group partner in sensor technologies and software, whose Zurich-based physical AI division Hexagon Robotics introduced AEON in June 2025. AEON’s centrepiece is a human-like torso that can be equipped with a range of gripping tools, hands or scanning devices, letting it perform a variety of tasks without changing its core structure. In BMW’s physical AI approach, AI agents make decisions, learn from data and steer the robots, built on a production system the BMW Group has converted to a uniform IT and data model with a shared platform. The group has pooled its expertise in a Centre of Competence for Physical AI in Production, where AI and robotics specialists evaluate technology partners and develop and oversee pilot projects from the concept and lab stages through to deployment in the plant.