Mornine humanoid robot opens car doors and supports sales

Without requiring human control, Mornine uses an integrated sensor system and full-body motion control technology to locate the door handle, adjust posture and coordinate force to open the car door.

According to AiMOGA Robotics, this is one of the first instances of a service robot performing high-friction physical interactions in a real-world commercial environment. Mornine was previously introduced at the Shanghai Auto Show by Chery's sub-brands Omoda and Jaecoo.

Robot has performed the task of opening car doors automatically. (Source: AiMOGA)

The seemingly simple act of opening a car door is a major challenge in the field of robotics, requiring complex processing and flexible interaction. Mornine was not specifically programmed to handle the door handle; instead, the robot learned how to do it through millions of simulation cycles using reinforcement learning and transferred it to the real environment using Sim2Real technology.

Mornine's sensor system includes 3D LiDAR, wide-angle camera, depth camera and visual-language model, allowing the robot to recognize the location and status of the door in real time. After each operation, the sensor data is uploaded to the cloud system for the robot to continue training and improve its performance.

Mornine is currently deployed at many Chery 4S dealerships in China. In addition to opening car doors, this robot also supports tasks such as greeting customers, introducing cars, serving items, and communicating in multiple languages. Initially, Mornine was just a virtual character built to attract Gen Z in the metaverse, but through many stages of image and function development, it has become a physical robot capable of real service.

The humanoid robot market is expected to reach $50 trillion by 2050, displacing more than 63 million jobs globally. The automotive industry could see a shift from traditional human labor to AI human labor, especially in sales and service.

Robots can work continuously without rest, helping to optimize sales and customer care processes, support inventory management, guide showroom tours, and handle repetitive tasks. With the ability to communicate in multiple languages and continuously learn, robots like Mornine can serve customers in many countries, helping car manufacturers expand their markets more easily.