CNC tending at IMTS, wheels on the floor
Vention puts Physical AI on CNC machine tending at IMTS. XPeng commissions an IRON line. Factories that tried legs asked for wheels.
Week of 4–11 Sep 2026. IMTS is three days out. The machining story is Vention putting Physical AI on CNC machine tending and bin picking at the show, still not a humanoid in a cutting cell. Humanoid news was XPeng commissioning an automated line that builds IRON. Factories that tried legs this week asked for wheels.
What landed
10 Sep: Vention at IMTS
Vention published its IMTS lineup (Booth 236860, 14–19 Sep): Physical AI on the machine and Agentic AI on the cell, on one platform.
Live demos:
- Rapid Operator AI deep bin picking on a UR12e (vendor claim: up to 99% first-pick)
- Collision-free path planning on a FANUC LR Mate without manual waypoints
- Click & Customize Machine Tending: configurable CNC load/unload on a FANUC CRX-10iA, programmed in MachineLogic
Also: a UR20 seventh axis shown welding, with machine tending listed as a reach use. MachineAgent takes plain-language prompts to cell layouts, industrial programs, and fleet troubleshooting. Vention says generated layouts are starting points and safety still needs a qualified engineer.
8 Sep: XPeng IRON walks off the line
XPeng said its humanoid production line in Guangzhou is commissioned. The first IRON finished automated final assembly and walked off the line on its own.
XPeng claims more than 80% of core processes automated, automotive-grade quality, 76 degrees of freedom (21 per hand), and three Turing chips at up to 2,250 TOPS so the Physical AI model runs on the robot. Scaled production by end-2026; first commercial rollouts in XPeng’s own stores and campuses; market launch and deliveries in 2027.
Live Science: no production-volume number; first external jobs named are customer service and guided tours, not mills.
9 Sep: Nucleus II drops the legs
German startup Nucleus deployed Nucleus II: dual arms on a wheeled base after plant managers asked for 10 kg per arm, five-to-nine-hour uptime, and “no legs.”
Founder Melvin Schwarz: lab setups fail in the first hours on a real floor. The company bills physical work by the hour, still uses remote teleoperation on edge cases, and says the next update will show a continuous multi-hour shift. Target: up to 25 robots by end of Q1; majority-autonomous operations in early 2027.
11 Sep: UBTECH Cruzr Y1 in the Netherlands
UBTECH’s Cruzr Y1 (two humanoid arms on wheels) is being introduced in the Netherlands with pre-trained tote and carton palletising. The importer says legs are often unnecessary on a flat floor; machine tending is a gripper change, not a walking problem.
Same week, same lesson as Nucleus: the industrial form factor that is selling is wheeled dual-arm, not a biped at a mill.
Gaps / contradictions
- Vention’s 99% first-pick and CNC tending cell are booth demonstrations. No independent cycle time, first-pass yield, or shop hours.
- XPeng’s walk-off is line commissioning, not a volume run. No unit count. He Xiaopeng called the step small. First paid work is showrooms, not machine tending. Automotive methods cannot be directly applied in every aspect; mass-production cost is unproven.
- Nucleus has not named the wheeled chassis OEM. Next proof is a multi-hour shift they have not yet published. Teleoperation is still in the loop.
- Chinese channel checks (Jiemian, via Humanoids Daily, 7 Sep) claim Tesla placed ~5,000-unit Optimus component orders. Tesla has not confirmed. Treat as discourse, not a shipment.
- Recycled July footage of Tesla stripping the Fremont Model S/X hall is not this week’s news.
- No verified CNC-tending humanoid hours in this window. Live jobs, when they exist, remain handling, kitting, and light assembly.
- Do not treat last week’s FANUC IMTS preview, Minth/AGIBOT Šabac, UR agentic cell, Hyundai union vote, Limitless/Cimatron CAM agents, Xiaomi EV-line internship, or Unitree’s IPO as new.
What to watch
- IMTS 14–19 Sep: Vention’s CRX CNC load/unload and bin-picking cell; last week’s FANUC wet-milling arm and AI toolpath; Siemens’ SINUMERIK Machine Tool Robot with Danobat. Ask whether the programme would survive your first article.
- Hours, cycle time, and first-pass yield — not walk-off videos or capacity slides.
- Wheels vs legs on real floors. If the plant asked for no legs, that is the requirement, not a fashion.
- XPeng: first industrial load/unload hours, or only campus tours in 2027.