Nissan's AI-powered factory robots can haul 4,000 pounds — and call each other for backup
Nissan has been ramping up its in-factory AI efforts. Nissan Nissan's Smyrna, Tennessee, plant is using autonomous AI robots to move heavy objects. The rollout will move 64 forklift and tug operators into other plant jobs. This article is part of "How AI Is Changing Everything: Supply Chain," a series on innovations in logistics. Robots can get stuck in traffic, too. Nissan learned that while deploying a fleet of AI-powered robots, called autonomous mobile robots, or AMRs, at its sprawling factory in Smyrna, Tennessee. At one point, the software dispatched two AMRs to the same place at the same time, creating a decidedly futuristic traffic jam. "Of course you wish everything works perfect, out of the box," JS Bolton, Nissan's senior director of manufacturing at the plant, told Business Insider. "But, it doesn't." Teams inside Nissan partnered with software providers and corrected the programming. Now, the automaker says the robots can haul loads weighing thousands of pounds, recharge themselves, and call in another machine if one falls behind. Nissan is completing the first of six deployment phases over the coming months at the plant where it assembles the Rogue, Pathfinder, Murano
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Nissan's AI-powered factory robots can haul 4,000 pounds — and call each other for backup
Nissan has been ramping up its in-factory AI efforts. Nissan Nissan's Smyrna, Tennessee, plant is using autonomous AI robots to move heavy objects. The rollout will move 64 forklift and tug operators into other plant jobs. This article is part of "How AI Is Changing Everything: Supply Chain," a series on innovations in logistics. Robots can get stuck in traffic, too. Nissan learned that while deploying a fleet of AI-powered robots, called autonomous mobile robots, or AMRs, at its sprawling factory in Smyrna, Tennessee. At one point, the software dispatched two AMRs to the same place at the same time, creating a decidedly futuristic traffic jam. "Of course you wish everything works perfect, out of the box," JS Bolton, Nissan's senior director of manufacturing at the plant, told Business Insider. "But, it doesn't." Teams inside Nissan partnered with software providers and corrected the programming. Now, the automaker says the robots can haul loads weighing thousands of pounds, recharge themselves, and call in another machine if one falls behind. Nissan is completing the first of six deployment phases over the coming months at the plant where it assembles the Rogue, Pathfinder, Murano
