Embodied AI Robots Deployed at Scale in Automotive Wiring Harness Production for the First Time

On June 26, Itstone Zhihang signed a strategic cooperation agreement with Tianhai Automotive Electronics Group Co., Ltd. to jointly advance the intelligent transformation of automotive wiring harness assembly processes. The two parties will engage in deep collaboration across key areas including technology development and validation, as well as industrial-scale deployment. Tianhai Electronics will contribute its extensive industry expertise in automotive wiring harnesses, large-scale mass production capabilities, and manufacturing resources. Itstone Zhihang, leveraging its self-developed robotic hardware and full-stack embodied general-purpose AI technologies—including its proprietary embodied foundation model—will deploy industrial embodied intelligent robots on real production lines to conduct data collection, model training, and line validation, ultimately delivering smart manufacturing solutions adaptable to a wide range of wiring harness assembly tasks. Automotive wiring harnesses serve as the vehicle’s “nervous system.” Due to the inherent flexibility and deformability of cables, complex assembly procedures, and stringent precision requirements, downstream assembly has long relied heavily on manual labor. This process involves a sequence of operations—including grasping, positioning, insertion, crimping, and inspection—that demand exceptional capabilities in visual perception, force control accuracy, hand-eye coordination, and long-horizon task planning. To address these challenges, Itstone Zhihang integrates multimodal perception, advanced force-control algorithms, compliant grasping technologies, and its general-purpose embodied AI model AWE (AI World Engine). This enables robots to understand harness geometry, perceive contact states, and dynamically adjust actions based on real-time working conditions, continuously optimizing performance through data collected from actual production environments. Additionally, the company employs a human-centric data collection approach, transforming skilled workers’ operational expertise into trainable and reusable data assets. By leveraging the AWE model, Itstone enhances robots’ generalization and stable execution capabilities in complex assembly workflows, accelerating the transition of wiring harness assembly robots from laboratory prototypes to large-scale industrial deployment.