Leju Robotics and auto parts maker Zhaofeng have put 15 humanoid robots into routine operation on a parts loading line at Zhaofeng's No. 3 plant in Xiaoshan, Hangzhou. The two companies presented the joint embodied AI loading solution at the factory on October 15.
The robots pick small components, such as wheel hub bearings with inner diameters of 80 to 120 millimeters, from wire mesh bins and place them at preset positions on machining stations. According to a Zhaofeng representative quoted by Securities Times, the robots cover 15 workstations and more than 10 types of parts, with a loading success rate holding at 98%. The deployment has run for more than two months, logging about 1,000 hours and helping produce more than 60,000 parts.
Speed is still the gap. Securities Times reported that a single loading cycle takes under 40 seconds, against about 15 seconds for a skilled worker at the same station. Jiemian put the robot cycle at about 35 seconds. Zhaofeng's chairman told reporters that fixed robot arms at the plant reach 10 to 15 seconds on some steps, and that humanoids would need to get to about 15 seconds before wider adoption makes sense. He expects that to take six months to a year.
Why humanoids in a plant that already has fixed automation? Zhaofeng's general manager said some overseas aftermarket orders run only 250 to 300 sets, with many product types and frequent changeovers. Humanoids fill in the moving, loading and adjustment work between automated steps rather than replacing the line.
Leju says it split the loading skill into more than 30 basic modules that can be combined without low-level coding, cutting development from months to weeks. A multi-robot scheduling platform pushes the same skill to many units, and safety modules detect dropped parts, collisions and overspeed. Leju CEO Chang Lin said the next priority is speed, including making better use of both arms to pick more parts at once.
The fleet also collects data as it works, more than 40,000 records a month at current rates, according to the companies. They are donating an auto parts loading dataset from real robot operation to the OpenLET community under the OpenAtom Foundation. Jiemian noted that moving the setup to other factories will still require adapting to new parts, equipment interfaces and safety rules.
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