CATL Zhongzhou AI Factory Uses Humanoid Robots and AI Quality Inspection in Battery Production

At CATL's Liyang factory in Jiangsu Province, production output was increased by 320 percent and manufacturing costs were reduced by 33 percent, together with other technological innovations such as big data and additive manufacturing, according to the World Economic Forum's justification for awarding it Lighthouse Factory status in mid-December. The article says CATL's first three AI factories have been recognised as Lighthouse Factories. CATL is now building its fourth AI factory in Zhongzhou, near Luoyang in Henan Province. Around 6,000 workers are working around the clock on its construction, according to the portal Pengpai Xinwen. The first and second construction phases are already operational, and the last two have celebrated their topping-out ceremony and are being equipped with machinery. In Zhongzhou, AI-powered Xiaomo humanoid robots take on complex tasks in battery production, including EOL (end of line) tests and DCR (direct current resistance) measurements. Quality inspection for new batteries has been improved using AI, high-precision 3D cameras and edge computing to the point where entire traditional process steps have become obsolete. For details of how production is carried out, the article points to CATL's first three AI factories, such as Liyang, and examples CATL reports: a defect detection rate of 100 percent during the welding of sealing pins at Liyang, eliminating the need for helium leak testing; an intelligent capacity estimation system for capacity testing and calibration that reduces both the duration and energy consumption of that step; and virtual simulations and verifications during equipment retrofitting, where AI, digital twins and 3D printing cut commissioning and debugging cycles by 40 percent, according to CATL. Machine learning is also used to improve process control of several production steps as well as energy management. All of these innovations are being used in the 31 buildings of the new Zhongzhou factory, which covers 700,000 square meters, equivalent to 98 football fields. It is also the center of a new Science and Technology Cluster with dozens of companies from upstream and downstream supply chains, research laboratories and training facilities.