Foxconn, Intrinsic building flexible robots for U.S. factories

Intrinsic and Foxconn are teaming up to build robots for Foxconn’s U.S. factories. Intrinsic is an Alphabet subsidiary that builds robotics development tools, while Foxconn is the world’s largest contract manufacturer for consumer electronics. The partnership was announced at Foxconn’s Hon Hai Tech Day in Taipei.

The companies plan to integrate AI, robotics, and digital twins into modular automation and move into production quickly. Intrinsic said the robots will be used for tasks such as assembly, inspection, machine tending, and logistics, aiming to move Foxconn beyond rigid, hard-coded automation.

After years of exploring AI-driven factory concepts, they said advances in AI make this the right time to formalize a joint venture.

“Together we’re working to bring the value of AI into the physical world,” Intrinsic CEO Wendy Tan White told The Robot Report. “By marrying Intrinsic’s expertise in AI-driven robotics software with Foxconn’s deep expertise with worldwide production, world-class facilities, and vision for the future of manufacturing, we will accelerate the adoption of AI where it is most needed and valuable today. The partnership with Foxconn provides an incredible opportunity to scale these solutions broadly.”

What do Foxconn and Intrinsic plan to create?

Intrinsic wouldn’t specify what exactly is being built or what robots will be used. Intrinsic highlighted AI server manufacturing as a potential task to target. The companies will combine the strengths of Intrinsic’s AI and Foxconn’s Smart Manufacturing platform to develop workcells to fit Foxconn’s needs.

Intrinsic said the joint venture will start with high-value electronics assembly tasks that remain hard to automate. The companies aim to build modular, AI-driven industrial robotic workcells using vision, motion, grasping, and touch to handle and insert parts and components.

“In working with Intrinsic, we are able to tap their deep expertise in AI-driven robotics. This synergy complements our global manufacturing leadership, enabling us to collaboratively unlock the factory of the future,” Young Liu, Chairman and CEO of Foxconn, said.

AI will play an important role

Intrinsic Flowstate, a robotics developer environment, will give the teams a shared platform to use tools such as the Intrinsic Vision Model (IVM). IVM uses a suite of specialized transformers to handle perception tasks such as pose and object detection, tracking, segmentation, and point-cloud generation. It requires no training pipelines and needs only a single CAD file to run.

Intrinsic said foundation models like IVM can improve the economics of AI-driven robotics for Foxconn. IVM delivers sub-millimeter accuracy using only RGB cameras, which Intrinsic claims can cut hardware costs by five to 20 times compared with typical depth-sensing setups. Intrinsic added that high-precision vision models also boost related functions, including motion and grasp planning, by providing more accurate data throughout the workcell.

Foxconn and Intrinsic said working together will unlock AI-enabled robots that are faster to build, cheaper to run, and more efficient in operation. Ultimately, the companies said this can make high-mix, high-volume production economically and technically viable.

“Intrinsic has led the way when it comes to building an AI-integrated platform and AI-enabled robotic capabilities that can scale. In working together, we’ll be able to ensure Foxconn’s Smart Manufacturing platform will enable intelligent automation fully across our factories, from data management to robotics, AI, and digital twins,” said Dr. Zhe Shi, chief digital officer at Foxconn. “This partnership will help revolutionize our factory operations, making them even more flexible, adaptable, skill-based, and scalable. From individual tasks at the robot level, to full production lines and plant management, we’re excited to be building the factory of the future together.”

Intrinsic Flowstate is a developer environment to build production-grade robotics. | Source: Intrinsic