French startup Inbolt and the world’s largest industrial robotics company Fanuc are launching what they describe as a “manufacturing breakthrough” enabling Fanuc robots to tackle one of the most complex automation challenges.
The companies claim that the robots can “perform production tasks on continuously moving parts at assembly line speeds”.
With Inbolt’s AI-powered 3D vision, manufacturers can now automate screw insertion, bolt rundown, glue application and other high-precision tasks on parts moving down the line without costly infrastructure investments or cycle time compromises.
Solving a ‘nearly impossible’ problem
In the race to bring automotive manufacturing back home, the General Assembly Shop, the most manual and unpredictable stage of vehicle production, remains the biggest obstacle.
Until now, automating moving lines was considered nearly impossible, requiring massive infrastructure upgrades, expensive fixtures, cycle time compromises, and constant maintenance.
The new Inbolt and Fanuc integration changes that, allowing the CRX cobot and other Fanuc robot models to operate with real-time 3D vision and adaptive trajectory correction, even with part variation or imperfect environments.
The landmark integration with Fanuc robots is the first solution of its kind on the market using Fanuc’s robots and Inbolt’s intelligence layer and real-time vision.
General Motors is the first to adopt this new integration, while other leading brands, including Stellantis, Ford, Whirlpool, ThyssenKrupp Automotive, and Toyota, use Inbolt’s technology across various applications.
Launching at Automate 2025
The solution will debut in live demos at Booth #8632 at Automate in Detroit, North America’s largest trade show for industrial automation.
Rudy Cohen, CEO of Inbolt, says: “This new collaboration between Inbolt and Fanuc gives car manufacturers a new level of automation: precision tasks, performed by robots, on lines that never stop.
“No more expensive indexing. No more undue complexity and maintenance challenges. Just robots operating in a continuous motion environment and a huge leap forward for automakers’ General Assembly Shop.”
The system operates up to 100 times faster than conventional solutions, and is designed to scale across diverse production needs, whether for manufacturers worried about maintenance or line throughput or system integrators requirements for easy and quick installation.
How it works
This solution combines Fanuc’s streaming motion capabilities, which enable real-time trajectory input via Ethernet, with Inbolt’s lightweight, robot-mounted vision system and ultra-fast AI model.
Key features include:
- Real-time 3D guidance: Inbolt’s proprietary localization AI refreshes at a high rate continuously identifying object orientation and adapting robot paths on the fly, enabling high-speed screwdriving and part insertion without indexing.
- Flexible deployment: Operates in low-space environments, with no need for fencing. Ideal for General Assembly stations.
Built for the realities of the line
This integration supports bolt rundown, screw insertion, filter installation, and other tasks which are challenging applications for traditional robotics.
The system handles real-world constraints: crowded stations, variable parts, minimal floor space, and most importantly moving lines and variable part position.
Albane Dersy, COO of Inbolt, says: “Our primary goal is to reduce the complexity of automation.
“With Inbolt’s guidance system and Fanuc’s native motion control, robots can now think and act on the fly.”
Lou Finazzo, vice president, sales, at Fanuc America, says: “As industries navigate rising demands for efficiency and cost-effectiveness, automation has become an essential solution – and the timing has never been better.
“At our new Innovation Lab, Fanuc is collaborating with forward-thinking startups like Inbolt to harness cutting-edge solutions, from cobots to AI and streaming motion applications, tackling challenges in the automotive sector and beyond.”
Significantly lowering the barriers to high-performance automation, this integration eliminates the need for specialized lighting or custom jigs, making it easier to deploy robots in complex, real-world environments.
A single robot can now handle over 100 part models with real-time accuracy, even on continuously moving lines.
Deployment is streamlined through Inbolt Studio, an intuitive platform that allows users to import CAD files, train the AI model, validate tracking in real time, and launch the program directly on the line.
Availability
The solution is available immediately for Fanuc CRX models and industrial robots with Stream Motion.
