Austin Weber

BARCELONA—Xiaomi Automobile Co. is using humanoid robots to assemble electric vehicles at is factory in Beijing.

CHICAGO—Ford Motor Co.’s historic Chicago Assembly Plant recently built a one-of-a-kind Explorer for Pope Leo XIV, who grew up just a few miles from the factory.

BINGHAMTON, NY—New research indicates that human-robot collaboration can improve work environments.

SEOUL—Samsung Electronics plans to transition all manufacturing operations into AI-driven factories by 2030.

CONCORD, NC—Rhino Tool House has acquired Teknikor, an industrial services company based in Fall River, MA.  

INGOLSTADT, Germany—Audi is using artificial intelligence technology to improve productivity and quality in its assembly plants.

ZURICH—A European R&D initiative is examining the energy efficiency of robots. 

LONDON—The number of manufacturers that expect to automate key production processes by 2030 will more than double, from 18 percent to 50 percent, according to PwC.

Compared with Industry 4.0, where humans mainly act as supervisors, Industry 5.0 elevates human expertise and contextual understanding. The objective is to allow people to focus on high-value cognitive tasks while being supported by intelligent machines that handle routine, hazardous or precision-intensive work.

STAMFORD, CT—Humanoid robots are one of the hottest topics of 2026. But, despite all the hype, many manufacturers plan to cautiously approach the technology.