Schaeffler and Wandelbots partner to roll out Physical AI robotics platform across global plants
Schaeffler has agreed a technology partnership with German robotics and Physical AI company Wandelbots to bring the open Wandelbots NOVA platform into its worldwide production network.
- up to 40 percent
- 12 months
What Happened
The Motion Technology Company Schaeffler has agreed a technology partnership with Wandelbots, a German robotics and Physical AI company. The focus of the cooperation is further development of the open Wandelbots NOVA platform for the use of artificial intelligence in industrial and humanoid robotics. The solution is intended to be made available across all Schaeffler plants in the future and to simplify the development, testing and cross-site transfer of robotics applications. The partners say this creates the conditions for scalable use of Physical AI and for further digitalisation of Schaeffler's global production network.
- Development of a digital platform for Physical AI and intelligent robotics
- Development, validation and worldwide scaling of robotics applications
- Integration of Physical AI into Schaeffler's global production network
- Establishing Wandelbots NOVA as a standard at Schaeffler
up to 40percent
Applies to both new and existing production environments, according to Schaeffler
Under the partnership, Schaeffler and Wandelbots want to establish Wandelbots NOVA as the standard at Schaeffler. NOVA is meant to help Schaeffler design applications, test them digitally and then deploy them in various plants; the platform connects different robot systems and makes it possible to transfer validated solutions to further applications and sites. Virtual testing relies on NVIDIA's Omniverse and Isaac Sim technologies, so production flows and robot tasks can be simulated, validated and optimised digitally before they are used in manufacturing. A Skill Store is intended to bundle applications, models and technical knowledge, so that Schaeffler can systematically secure capabilities developed in individual projects, use them independently of the specific system, scale them globally to other plants and, in perspective, also make them available externally.
“Anyone who wants to shape the production of the future has to rethink automation. Flexibility and scalability are the decisive success factors in global competition today. Together with Wandelbots we are bringing state-of-the-art Physical AI directly into industrial practice. That underlines our claim to be a technological pioneer and takes Schaeffler's production network to the next level of digitalisation.”
“Physical AI has huge potential to significantly reduce manufacturing costs while dramatically increasing the flexibility of robots. Technical feasibility has been sufficiently proven over the last 12 months. What is decisive now is that capabilities can be developed efficiently, transferred to different systems and used reliably in production. Our collaboration with Schaeffler combines an open technology platform with extensive industrial application expertise. Together we show how applications move faster from development into practice and can be scaled across different production environments.”
Previously from Schaeffler Group
Days before this announcement, Schaeffler opened a 7,500-square-meter Lighthouse Factory in Taicang, China, where six humanoid robots assemble joint modules for the next generation of humanoids. Earlier in October, Schaeffler also said it would work with Qorix to jointly develop, integrate and market software-based platform solutions for future vehicle architectures, starting with automotive and later moving to robotics and industrial automation.
- Schaeffler opens Taicang Lighthouse Factory where humanoid robots build humanoid joint modules
- Schaeffler and Qorix partner to build software platforms for software-defined vehicles
Background drawn from MotorClaw's earlier coverage of Schaeffler Group's official releases.
Why this matters
The partnership matters because Schaeffler intends to make an AI robotics platform a standard tool across its entire global production network, rather than a one-off pilot. Schaeffler says automation costs could fall by up to 40 percent over the lifecycle in both new and existing production environments, which directly affects plant planners, robot operators and every site where the rollout happens.
Terms in This Story
- Physical AI
- Artificial intelligence used to control and act through physical machines such as robots, rather than only processing data.
- Wandelbots NOVA
- An open platform from Wandelbots for using artificial intelligence in industrial and humanoid robotics, connecting different robot systems.
- Skill Store
- A store that bundles applications, models and technical knowledge so capabilities can be reused across different robot systems and sites.
- Humanoid robotics
- Robotics involving humanoid robots, machines built to resemble the human form.
Summarised from the linked release; details can be imperfect — always verify against the original source.