A Study on Enhancing the Efficiency of Humanoid Robot Production Systems in Small-Scale Manufacturing Environments Using Lean Manufacturing Techniques

This paper begins with the premise that the rapid advancement of artificial intelligence (AI) and decreasing costs of robotic components are driving increased demand for humanoid robots in both industrial and consumer markets. To address this rising demand, the study focuses on developing an efficient production system by applying lean manufacturing techniques in small-scale manufacturing environments. As part of this process, the production system of the humanoid robot ‘AIMY,’ developed by the Korean startup company AeiROBOT was analyzed. Value Stream Mapping (VSM) was created to identify waste in the current production system, and improvement strategies based on lean principles were proposed. These include waste elimination, optimized spatial layouts, inventory management solutions, and modular design. The approach was designed to leverage the limited resources of small-scale manufacturing environments. This emphasizes the suitability of lean manufacturing techniques in enhancing the efficiency of humanoid robot production systems.