  Technological evolution in the field of robotics is emerging with major
breakthroughs in recent years. This was especially fostered by revolutionary
new software applications leading to humanoid robots. Humanoids are being
envisioned for manufacturing applications to form human-robot teams. But their
implication in manufacturing practices especially for industrial safety
standards and lean manufacturing practices have been minimally addressed.
Humanoids will also be competing with conventional robotic arms and effective
methods to assess their return on investment are needed. To study the next
generation of industrial automation, we used the case context of the Tesla
humanoid robot. The company has recently unveiled its project on an intelligent
humanoid robot named Optimus to achieve an increased level of manufacturing
automation. This article proposes a framework to integrate humanoids for
manufacturing automation and also presents the significance of safety standards
of human-robot collaboration. A case of lean assembly cell for the
manufacturing of an open-source medical ventilator was used for human-humanoid
automation. Simulation results indicate that humanoids can increase the level
of manufacturing automation. Managerial and research implications are
presented.
