Hyundai Wia likely to deploy smart robots at Georgia EV plant

Hyundai Wia Corp., an auto parts unit of Hyundai Motor Group, will likely deploy smart robots at the group’s first dedicated electric vehicle manufacturing plant in the US state of Georgia.

Hyundai Wia, South Korea’s second-largest automotive component maker, on Monday unveiled its latest collaborative robots and autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) at a local machine exhibition, called SIMTOS 2022.

The company plans to use the robots to build a smart manufacturing and logistics system at Hyundai Motor Group Innovation Centre Singapore (HMGICS), an open mobility innovation base that Hyundai Motor is building.

Employing cutting-edge technologies such as artificial intelligence, Internet of Things and robotics, HMGICS will serve as a testbed for Hyundai’s entire automotive value chain, including a production system for electric vehicles.

Hyundai Wia will also use smart robots at its US EV plant, industry sources said.

Hyundai Motor Co. last Friday unveiled a plan to invest about $5.5 billion to build its first dedicated electric vehicle and battery manufacturing facilities in the US state of Georgia.

Hyundai will break ground on the new EV factory in the first half of next year and is expected to begin commercial production in the first half of 2025 with an annual capacity of 300,000 units.

Hyundai Wia said on Monday it is unveiling two types of collaborative robots, which can move objects weighing up to 10 kg and 15 kg, respectively. The company also unveiled two types of autonomous logistics robots, which can move up to 100 kg and 300 kg of goods each.

Collaborative robots refer to multi-joint robots built to work alongside human workers without a safety net at a manufacturing site.

Its AMRs can deliver freight without a human driver or a guide.

Write to Hyung-Kyu Kim at khk@hankyung.com
In-Soo Nam edited this article.