Wentzville is the only GM plant to have a frame turnover robot that the company is considering adding at more plants, Linn said. While Godzilla is lifting and moving cabs elsewhere in the plant, the two frame turnover robots work in concert to flip over truck and van frames as they pass through the chassis department.

A big push GM is making now is to connect its robots to a cloud network to better track maintenance needs so plants don’t have to be idled when machinery breaks down, Linn said.

About a third of GM’s nearly 30,000 robots are currently connected. “We’re in the process of connecting all of the robots,” he said. GM also is exploring the use of electronic exoskeleton suits and other wearable robots that could be used as tools for GM workers.

“GM has a long, rich history in using the latest and greatest in robots,” Linn said.

The use of robotics and automation continues to spread in health care. St. Louis-based Stereotaxis last week announced a milestone: Its robotic technology has now been used by surgeons in more than 100,000 procedures to correct irregular heartbeats.