Humanoid Raises $152 Million at $1.35 Billion Post-Money Valuation, Becoming Europe’s First Pure-Play Humanoid Robotics Unicorn
Humanoid announces its Series A investment round, reaching a $1.35 billion valuation just two years after founding.
It is the largest ever Series A for humanoid-first robotics company in Europe positioning Humanoid as the leading humanoid-first robotics unicorn in the UK and continental Europe.
The new capital will accelerate Humanoid’s next-generation robot development, commercial deployments with global industrial leaders, and evolution of the proprietary AI platform on the path toward general-purpose humanoids.
The investment marks a defining moment for Europe’s tech ecosystem, showing that globally competitive Physical AI companies can be built and scaled in Europe.
London, UK — July 21, 2026 — Humanoid, a UK-based AI and robotics company building industrial humanoid robots, today announced a $152 million Series A financing at a $1.35 billion post-money valuation. This funding brings the total amount raised to date to $270 million. The round was led by Prime Movers Lab, a venture capital firm focused on investments in breakthrough scientific startups working to revolutionize the world’s most important industries and transform billions of lives, with participation from Schaeffler, Bosch, Fubon Financial Holding Venture Capital, and Aglaé Ventures.
Now is a defining moment for the European technology ecosystem which positions the region among the global leaders in one of the world’s fastest-growing tech sectors. Until now, much of the Physical AI momentum has been concentrated in the United States and China. The investment demonstrates that the UK and continental Europe can produce and scale globally competitive humanoid robotics companies at the cutting-edge of the field.
The new capital will fund Humanoid’s next phase of growth, strengthening its technology leadership and accelerating its commercial deployments and business expansion. The company will focus on:
Development and launch of its next-generation humanoid robotics platform;
Long-term commercial deployments at customer facilities across logistics, manufacturing, retail, and other sectors, beginning with the roll-out of Beta version robots in Q4 2026;
Start of mass manufacturing of wheel-based humanoid robots;
AI and software development, including Humanoid’s proprietary AI brain KinetIQ, on our way toward a general-purpose robot for industrial applications.
Humanoid has become one of the fastest-growing companies in the industry and secured major partnerships with Fortune 500 companies, including SAP, NVIDIA, Bosch, and Siemens. Most notably, Humanoid recently signed the industry’s largest publicly announced commercial agreement with Schaeffler for the large-scale deployment of thousands of humanoid robots in manufacturing environments.
“In just two years, we’ve gone from an idea to becoming Europe’s first pure-play humanoid robotics unicorn, partnered with some of the world’s leading industrial companies and built one of the strongest pipelines in the industry. What we’ve accomplished in such a short time would typically take a decade. None of this would have been possible without an extraordinary team that challenges every single day what people believe is possible.This funding gives us the resources to move even faster and to turn humanoid robots from breakthrough technology into everyday industrial tools,” noted Artem Sokolov, Founder and CEO of Humanoid.
“Humanoid robotics will be one of the defining technologies of the next decade, reshaping how commercial and industrial work gets done. We expect the field to consolidate around a handful of category leaders across the US, Europe, and China. Humanoid AI will be one of a small cadre of robotics companies that will define humanoid robotics in Europe and beyond,” said Zia Huque, General Partner at Prime Movers Lab.
Klaus Rosenfeld, CEO of Schaeffler AG, commented: “Humanoid robotics is rapidly moving from a visionary concept to an industrial reality, and Schaeffler, as a leading motion technology company, is uniquely positioned to help shape this evolution. By combining our decades of industrial expertise and manufacturing excellence with Humanoid’s breakthrough physical AI platform, we are actively backing one of the most exciting frontiers in technology. We are proud to support Humanoid as both a strategic investor and a commercial partner as they scale a technology that holds the power to fundamentally redefine productivity across global industries.”
“We see significant growth opportunities in the field of humanoid robotics. Through our subsidiary Robert Bosch Robotics GmbH we have already entered into a manufacturing partnership with Humanoid. Bosch will act as Humanoid’s contract manufacturing partner, while also providing strategic consulting and technical expertise in hardware design, production, and supply chain,” noted Mathias Pillin, Chief Technology Officer of Robert Bosch GmbH.
“Humanoid has demonstrated exceptional execution in a remarkably short period of time, transforming breakthrough AI and robotics technology into real industrial deployments. We are excited to support the company’s next stage of growth as a long-term strategic partner and look forward to contributing to its global expansion,” Fubon Financial Holding Venture Capital said.
The valuation reflects both Humanoid’s speed of execution and growing market confidence that humanoid robots are becoming commercially viable. What was once considered a long-term research experiment is now a deployable industrial technology. With its wheeled robots, Humanoid aims to address global labor shortages across manufacturing, logistics and other critical sectors, solving real operational problems for its customers.
The company’s vertically integrated approach combines proprietary robotics hardware with its own AI brain, KinetIQ, which enables robots to understand, reason, and execute complex physical tasks in real industrial environments. With this financing, Humanoid aims to accelerate the transition toward a future where intelligent robots work safely alongside people across the world’s industrial economy.
About Humanoid
Humanoid is a UK-based robotics company building humanoid robots for industrial use. Founded by Artem Sokolov in 2024, Humanoid brings together over 250 engineers, researchers, and innovators from top global tech companies. All robots run on KinetIQ, Humanoid’s proprietary four-layer AI framework designed for real-world deployment.
With offices in London, Boston, Vancouver, and San Diego, the company is focused on building commercially viable, scalable, and safe robotic solutions for real-world applications.
For media inquiries, interviews, or further information, please contact: [email protected]
KinetIQ Ascend: Toward 100% Reliable Manipulation and Superhuman Speed
Overview
Currently, imitation learning is the primary way to teach robots manipulation skills. This approach works well to create impressive demos, but it doesn’t create robots that can outperform people or operate in real-world environments.
In a new technical deep dive, we revealed how it uses reinforcement learning (RL) to improve its robots’ performance through experience instead of just relying on human demos. Our approach, KinetIQ Ascend, extends KinetIQ, the AI framework behind our robots, with the ability to learn from trial and error. We believe this is the first published demonstration of end-to-end, vision-based RL running on production humanoid manipulation systems in real-world deployment conditions.
One of the key findings is that robot performance improves in a predictable way as more robot training time is added. It’s similar to how large language models improve as more compute and data become available. The observed scaling trend, supported by simulation experiments, suggests that our method scales all the way to 100% reliability.
Real-world impact
The results were demonstrated on several industrial tasks:
In a machine-feeding application (a robot picks steel bearing rings from a bin and places them onto a conveyor) RL increased throughput by 42%. The robot performed the task at 1.5x the speed of the human demos it originally learned from.
In a second task involving picking items from a cluttered tote and handing them to a person, throughput increased by 85%, and success rates improved from 80% to 98%.
In a third task involving bimanual tote handling, where the robot lifts a tote off a table using both arms, throughput more than doubled and success rate rose from 78% to 99% — a roughly twentyfold reduction in failures. The robots achieved these improvements after only a few days of learning.
The company also uncovered two findings that exceeded expectations. First, improving only the most difficult part of a workflow can improve the performance of the entire task. Second, the robots appeared to generalize what they learned. After training on a single object type, performance improved on other objects the robots had never seen during training.
The bigger vision: a capability factory
KinetIQ Ascend, our real-world RL method, shows a new way of developing robot capabilities. Instead of spending months collecting data and manually tuning every new skill, we can start with a basic behavior and allow RL to refine it into a deployment-ready capability — a process we describe as building a ‘capability factory’, a system designed to rapidly create, improve, and scale robot skills across industrial environments
The long-term vision goes even further. Because the same training framework can run on deployed robots, every robot could eventually become part of the learning system. It means that fleets would continuously improve creating a feedback loop: better robots generate better data, leading to even better robots over time.
When a supervisor steps in to correct or assist a robot on-site, that intervention automatically becomes a training signal — meaning routine operation turns into continuous improvement, without any additional data collection effort.
Why it matters for the industry
The humanoid race is becoming a question of scale. The key challenge is to enable robots to perform thousands of tasks every day with speed, reliability, and consistency. Our research suggests that real-world RL may be one of the technologies that helps address that challenge.
If we allow robots to improve themselves after initial training, we can move closer to a future where humanoid robots become more capable during their lifetime. It could dramatically reduce the time needed to develop new capabilities, which is a key requirement for bringing humanoid robots into industrial environments worldwide.
Humanoid Secures Partnership with Bosch Following a Successful POC
London, UK, May 21, 2026 — Humanoid, a UK-based AI and robotics company, today announced a partnership with Bosch, marking the transition to scaled production of humanoid robots. The agreement follows the successful completion of a joint proof of concept (POC) in March 2026, where Humanoid’s platform demonstrated full capability in a complex industrial workflow.
Dr. Mathias Pillin, CTO of Robert Bosch GmbH, and Sotirios Stasinopoulos, CPO of Humanoid, during a test of HMND Alpha’s handling.
The POC focused on an intralogistics use case: HMND 01 robots autonomously transferred boxes from a conveyor to a trolley in Bosch’s dynamic logistics environment in Bühl, Germany. The POC involved handling 5 different box sizes across multiple footprints, heights and varying weights. The project’s goals included developing advanced scanning and handling capabilities, managing inputs from multiple conveyors, and demonstrating system adaptability in dynamic environments. Orchestrated through KinetIQ, Humanoid’s proprietary AI framework, the POC achieved its objectives, confirming both the technical readiness and scalability of the approach.
Humanoid, a UK-based AI and robotics company, today announced a partnership with Bosch, marking the transition to scaled production of humanoid robots. The agreement follows the successful completion of a joint proof of concept (POC) in March 2026, where Humanoid’s platform demonstrated full capability in a complex industrial workflow.
Following these results, Humanoid and Bosch have entered into a manufacturing agreement to support the production of HMND 01 humanoid robots for the European market. As Humanoid pushes toward large-scale commercialisation, the company is investing in Design for Excellence — including Design for Manufacturability, Reliability, Serviceability, and Cost — to ensure its platform delivers exceptional long-term performance and economic value for its customers.
Under the agreement, Bosch will serve as Humanoid’s contract manufacturing partner, while also providing strategic oversight and technical expertise through a structured Design for Excellence (DfX) framework spanning hardware design, production, supply chain, and cost optimization.
Dr. Mathias Pillin, CTO of Robert Bosch GmbH, and Artem Sokolov, CEO and Founder of Humanoid.
“For Humanoid, this agreement is a critical step in our roadmap, bridging the gap between POC validation and large-scale deployment. Our goal has always been to shorten the path between innovation and real-world integration, and this agreement reflects that approach. Together with Bosch, as a strong strategic manufacturing partner, we are committed to bringing humanoid robots into industrial settings, scaling their deployment, and accelerating adoption across logistics, manufacturing, and beyond,” said Artem Sokolov, Founder and CEO of Humanoid.
“This partnership is built on the shared belief in the great potential of robotics in industry”, said Peter Svejkovsky, Head of Corporate Intellectual Property. “Bosch’s goal is to advance the scaling of humanoid robotics and to further develop this field of the future. With our global production infrastructure and deep industrialisation expertise we are the perfect partner to take the step from prototype to volume manufacturing.”
Alongside the manufacturing partnership and early deployment, the two companies will also explore the integration of Bosch technologies and advanced components into future versions of the HMND 01 platform.
Bosch and Humanoid teams at the Humanoid office, May 2026.
About Humanoid
Humanoid is a UK-based robotics company building humanoid robots for industrial use, working to become the #1 general-purpose industrial humanoid robotics company within two years. Founded by Artem Sokolov in 2024, Humanoid brings together over 200 engineers, researchers, and innovators from top global tech companies. All robots run on KinetIQ, Humanoid’s proprietary four-layer AI framework designed for real-world deployment.
With offices in London, Boston, and Vancouver, the company is focused on building commercially viable, scalable, and safe robotic solutions for real-world applications. For media inquiries, interviews, or further information, please contact: [email protected]
Humanoid Secures Landmark Deal with Schaeffler to Deploy Thousands of Humanoid Robots
Humanoid Secures Landmark Deal with Schaeffler to Deploy Thousands of Humanoid Robots
London-based startup to put Humanoid Robots on Schaeffler’s factory floors
Deployment begins in live German production environments in late 2026
Schaeffler becomes preferred actuator supplier
London, UK, May 13, 2026 — Humanoid, the UK-based AI and robotics company, has signed a binding, phased deployment and supply agreement with Schaeffler, a leading Motion Technology Company, to integrate humanoid robots directly into live manufacturing operations. The first systems go live in Germany before the end of 2026. Humanoid will also purchase actuators from Schaeffler as a preferred supplier.
The agreement is one of the largest disclosed humanoid robot rollouts ever announced and positions Humanoid, founded by Artem Sokolov in 2024, among the youngest companies to secure a large-scale contract at this level. It targets deployment of a four-digit number of wheeled units across Schaeffler’s global facilities by 2032.
Schaeffler and Humanoid Partner to Bring Physical AI to the Factory Floor
Deployment phaze across Schaeffler sites
The agreement follows a series of successful proof-of-concepts and a strategic partnership announced in January 2026 between the two companies. The initial deployment phase, running from December 2026 through June 2027, will take place across two Schaeffler sites in Germany. In Herzogenaurach, the focus will remain on advancing box handling use case within a live production environment. At the same time, operations in Schweinfurt will begin with a three-month capability demonstration and integration testing period, followed by a three-month on-site phase dedicated to validating stable, continuous operation approaching full production scale.
A core principle of the collaboration is economic viability at scale: Humanoid will support Schaeffler in integrating its robotic systems into existing production environments. This includes meeting Schaeffler’s requirements for system architecture, safety, and IT infrastructure, as well as aligning with standardized rollout processes and security-by-design principles.
Strategic Deployment and Supply Agreement
The agreement is structured around a Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) model. Under this model, Humanoid provides the robotic systems together with the related services required for end-to-end deployment and operation, including connection to the fleet management software, maintenance, 24/7 technical support, updates, and ongoing performance management.
In addition to the deployment contract, Humanoid has also signed a 5-year supply agreement with Schaeffler for supply of actuators. Under this agreement, Schaeffler will become Humanoid’s preferred supplier, covering more than 50% of the company’s demand for joint actuators for its wheeled-based platforms through 2031. This partnership is expected to translate into the supply of a seven-digit number of actuators.
HMND 01 Operating at Schaeffler’s Facility in Germany
“Together with Schaeffler, one of our key industrial partners, we are taking an important step toward making humanoid robotics part of global manufacturing operations,” said Artem Sokolov, Founder and CEO of Humanoid. “We have already seen strong results from our proof of concept together, and now we are taking the next step to staged deployment. Moving into real-world operations is where the true value of humanoid robots is proven.”
Dr. Jochen Schroeder, Chief Operating Officer at Schaeffler AG, said: “The partnership with Humanoid underscores Schaeffler’s position as a trusted technology partner in advanced robotics. By supporting the phased deployment of humanoid systems in real manufacturing environments and serving as a preferred supplier of actuators, we are contributing to the industrial scaling of this technology while further strengthening our role in future-oriented motion solutions.”
Following the initial stages, both companies will continue to assess performance, expand deployment across the whole value stream including dexterous tasks as assembly and packaging in future.
About Humanoid
Humanoid is a UK-based robotics company building humanoid robots for industrial use, working to become the #1 general-purpose industrial humanoid robotics company within two years. Founded by Artem Sokolov in 2024, Humanoid brings together over 200 engineers, researchers, and innovators from top global tech companies. All robots run on KinetIQ, Humanoid’s proprietary four-layer AI framework designed for real-world deployment.
With offices in London, Boston, and Vancouver, the company is focused on building commercially viable, scalable, and safe robotic solutions for real-world applications. For media inquiries, interviews, or further information, please contact: [email protected].
Siemens and Humanoid bring Physical AI to the factory
Siemens and Humanoid bring Physical AI to the factory floor: deploying humanoids in industrial operations with NVIDIA
Siemens’ and NVIDIA’s strategic partnership to build fully AI-driven, adaptive manufacturing sites delivers real-world milestone with testing of humanoid robot at Siemens factory in Erlangen, Germany
HMND 01 Alpha is purpose-built for industrial environments with advanced manipulation capabilities
Siemens Xcelerator offers a factory-grade scalable portfolio for industrial integration
NVIDIA accelerates simulation and development for faster deployment
Siemens and Humanoid today announced a landmark milestone in the journey to bring physical AI from vision to industrial reality. Humanoid’s HMND 01 wheeled Alpha humanoid robot, built using the NVIDIA physical AI stack, has been successfully tested in operations at Siemens’ electronics factory in Erlangen, Germany, performing autonomous logistics tasks. This builds on the Siemens and NVIDIA strategic partnership, announced at CES, to build the world’s first fully AI-driven, adaptive manufacturing sites.
The dawn of physical AI in manufacturing
Physical AI – the discipline of training intelligent machines to perceive, reason and act in the physical world – is poised to transform how goods are made. Bridging the gap between AI research and the demands of a real factory requires a high-performing ecosystem: world-class AI compute and simulation, a proven robotics platform, and the deep industrial automation infrastructure to tie it all together.
The HMND 01 Alpha robot was deployed in Siemens’ logistics operations, where it autonomously executed tote-handling tasks – picking, transporting and placing containers for human operators. All target performance metrics were met, including a throughput of 60 tote moves per hour, uptime exceeding 8 hours, and autonomous pick-and-place success rates above 90 percent.
Siemens and Humanoid Bring Physical AI to the Factory Floor: Deploying Humanoids in Industrial Operations with NVIDIA
Building the industrial backbone with Siemens Xcelerator
A humanoid robot’s true value is in becoming a fully integrated, collaborative asset on the shop floor. That means real-time data exchange with production systems and other Autonomous Guided Vehicles, synchronized workflows with other machinery and human operators, and adaptive behavior that responds dynamically to changing conditions. Without this deep integration, even the most sophisticated robot remains an isolated feature. Siemens provides this critical layer through its Siemens Xcelerator portfolio, from a comprehensive digital twin to AI-enabled perception, to integrated control and PLC-robot interfaces, along with fleet management, industrial communication networks and high-performance drives. Together, these technologies form the digital backbone and automation infrastructure that help to ensure humanoid robots operate efficiently and in concert with the broader factory environment. The outcome is a factory-grade model for deploying humanoids in any industrial setting.
Accelerating intelligence with NVIDIA libraries, frameworks and AI infrastructure
Humanoid has integrated NVIDIA’s full physical AI stack into the HMND 01 platform, including NVIDIA Jetson Thor for edge compute, NVIDIA Isaac Sim for simulation and NVIDIA Isaac Lab for reinforcement learning and policy training. The result is a dramatic compression of development timelines. Simulation-first hardware design has also enabled the team to optimize actuator selection, joint strength and mass distribution virtually, cutting prototype development from a typical 18–24 months to just 7 months.
“Factories of the future demand robots that can perceive, reason, and adapt autonomously alongside human workers, tackling the labor shortages and operational complexity that traditional automation struggled to handle,” said Deepu Talla, vice president of Robotics and Edge AI at NVIDIA. “With Siemens providing the industrial integration backbone and Humanoid deploying NVIDIA’s full physical AI stack – from simulation-first training to real-time edge inference – this deployment paves the way for humanoid robots meeting real production targets on a live factory floor.”
Humanoid: Building factory-grade humanoids
Humanoid, a UK-based AI and robotics company, developed the HMND 01 Alpha, a humanoid robot purpose-built for industrial environments. Combining an omnidirectional wheeled mobility platform with advanced manipulation capabilities, powered by KinetIQ, a proprietary AI framework, the HMND 01 is engineered to work in human-centric spaces, adapting to diverse tasks and handling complex actions. “Our mission is to create humanoid robots that perform not only in controlled lab settings, but also in real-world factory environments, handling meaningful industrial tasks. Our collaboration with Siemens and NVIDIA gives us a powerful advantage by combining NVIDIA’s leading AI infrastructure, simulation tools, and frameworks with Siemens’ deep industrial expertise and integration capabilities,” said Artem Sokolov, CEO and Founder of Humanoid. “Together, we’ve proven that humanoid robots are ready for real-world industrial deployment.”
About Humanoid
Humanoid is a UK-based robotics innovation company dedicated to developing advanced humanoid robots that enhance human capabilities. Founded by Artem Sokolov in 2024, Humanoid brings together over 200 engineers, researchers, and innovators from top global tech companies. With offices in London, Boston, and Vancouver, the company is focused on building commercially viable, scalable, and safe robotic solutions for real-world applications.
AboutSiemens Digital Industries (DI)
Siemens Digital Industries (DI) empowers companies of all sizes within the process and discrete manufacturing industries to accelerate their digital and sustainability transformation across the entire value chain. Siemens’ cutting-edge automation and software portfolio revolutionizes the design, realization and optimization of products and production. And with Siemens Xcelerator – the open digital business platform – this process is made even easier, faster, and scalable. Together with our partners and ecosystem, Siemens Digital Industries enables customers to become a sustainable Digital Enterprise. Siemens Digital Industries has a workforce of around 70,000 people worldwide.
About Siemens AG
Siemens AG (Berlin and Munich) is a leading technology company focused on industry, infrastructure, mobility, and healthcare. The company’s purpose is to create technology to transform the everyday, for everyone. By combining the real and the digital worlds, Siemens empowers customers to accelerate their digital and sustainability transformations, making factories more efficient, cities more livable, and transportation more sustainable. A leader in industrial AI, Siemens leverages its deep domain know-how to apply AI – including generative AI – to real-world applications, making AI accessible and impactful for customers across diverse industries. Siemens also owns a majority stake in the publicly listed company Siemens Healthineers, a leading global medical technology provider pioneering breakthroughs in healthcare. For everyone. Everywhere. Sustainably.
In fiscal 2025, which ended on September 30, 2025, the Siemens Group generated revenue of €78.9 billion and net income of €10.4 billion. As of September 30, 2025, the company employed around 318,000 people worldwide on the basis of continuing operations. Further information is available on the Internet at www.siemens.com.
For media inquiries, interviews, or further information, please contact: [email protected]
Humanoid completes automotive manufacturing logistics POC with SAP and Martur Fompak
London, UK — March 30, 2026 — Humanoid, a UK-based AI and robotics company, together with SAP and Martur Fompak, has completed a proof of concept in a live production logistics environment. The project tested the HMND 01 Alpha Wheeled robot in a working production facility and set clear benchmarks for future deployment.
The POC focused on a real-world logistics picking workflow. During the project, the HMND 01 Alpha Wheeled robot received task instructions from the SAP AI agent, autonomously navigated to the designated pallet, retrieved a KLT box, and delivered it to a trolley. The robot then repeated the cycle as part of the order-fulfillment flow, showing its ability to integrate into existing warehouse operations.
The POC was powered by Humanoid’s proprietary KinetIQ AI stack, a four-layer AI framework for end-to-end orchestration of humanoid robot fleets across different environments. HMND 01 robots operated as a flexible fleet, directly tasked through SAP Business AI as autonomous agents, allowing the fleet to be instantly reallocated as production demands shifted. This orchestration layer ensured the robots were highly available, adaptable, and flexible.
A key milestone was achieved during the final integration phase. Humanoid’s robot API connected directly to SAP’s APIs through the SAP Joule agent layer. As a result, SAP Extended Warehouse Management was able to send tasks to the robot over the internet and manage its actions remotely, without relying on a local, custom-built control system. For Humanoid, this was the first time its robot had been controlled by an external enterprise system in a live production environment. With KinetIQ allowing robots to integrate into existing facility management structures, the robot became part of the company’s core IT system that manages orders, inventory, and tasks.
“Embodied Joule represents a fundamental shift in how robots understand and respond to business needs,” said Dr. Lukasz Ostrowski, Head of Embodied AI & Robotics at SAP SE. “This proof of concept in the manufacturing industry allows us to demonstrate how humanoid robots can act as extensions of an organization’s operations by providing business context awareness and integration with existing workflows.”
The project ran from January to February 2026 and followed a structured rollout plan: physical twin development, in-house testing, site preparation, and on-site deployment, including setup, training, optimization, and stakeholder demos. The robot delivered strong and successful results under real operational conditions. Moreover, the robot successfully handled three different tote types and operated with an 8 kg dual-arm payload limit.
“This proof of concept shows what matters: humanoid robots operating inside real production environments, connected to enterprise systems and measured against operational standards. That’s the bridge between experimentation and deployment. We’re proud of the progress we have achieved together with SAP and Martur Fompak, and are grateful to our partners for the trust to test our Alpha Wheeled humanoid where it really counts — on the factory floor,” said Artem Sokolov, Founder and CEO of Humanoid.
The team is currently preparing for the next on-site phase of the project, where the integration will be further validated in live production conditions. After completion, partners also plan to jointly assess the POC results, evaluate potential pathways to deploy Humanoid’s robots at Martur Fompak facilities, and explore more complex use cases and workflow scenarios within the production environment.
About Humanoid
Humanoid is a UK-based robotics company building humanoid robots for industrial use, working to become the #1 general-purpose industrial humanoid robotics company within two years. Founded by Artem Sokolov in 2024, Humanoid brings together over 200 engineers, researchers, and innovators from top global tech companies. All robots run on KinetIQ, Humanoid’s proprietary four-layer AI framework designed for real-world deployment.
With offices in London, Boston, and Vancouver, the company is focused on building commercially viable, scalable, and safe robotic solutions for real-world applications. For media inquiries, interviews, or further information, please contact: [email protected]
About SAP
SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein, as well as their respective logos, are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see https://www.sap.com/copyright for additional trademark information and notices. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.
Any statements in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties described in SAP’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including its most recent annual report on Form 20-F, that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. SAP cautions readers not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which SAP has no obligation to update and which speak only as of their dates.
HMND 01 Alpha goes to work: Humanoid completes automotive manufacturing logistics POC with SAP and Martur Fompak
HMND 01 Alpha goes to work: Humanoid completes automotive manufacturing logistics POC with SAP and Martur Fompak
London, UK — March 30, 2026 — Humanoid, a UK-based AI and robotics company, together with SAP and Martur Fompak, has completed a proof of concept in a live production logistics environment. The project tested the HMND 01 Alpha Wheeled robot in a working production facility and set clear benchmarks for future deployment.
The POC focused on a real-world logistics picking workflow. During the project, the HMND 01 Alpha Wheeled robot received task instructions from the SAP AI agent, autonomously navigated to the designated pallet, retrieved a KLT box, and delivered it to a trolley. The robot then repeated the cycle as part of the order-fulfillment flow, showing its ability to integrate into existing warehouse operations.
The POC was powered by Humanoid’s proprietary KinetIQ AI stack, a four-layer AI framework for end-to-end orchestration of humanoid robot fleets across different environments. HMND 01 robots operated as a flexible fleet, directly tasked through SAP Business AI as autonomous agents, allowing the fleet to be instantly reallocated as production demands shifted. This orchestration layer ensured the robots were highly available, adaptable, and flexible.
A key milestone was achieved during the final integration phase. Humanoid’s robot API connected directly to SAP’s APIs through the SAP Joule agent layer. As a result, SAP Extended Warehouse Management was able to send tasks to the robot over the internet and manage its actions remotely, without relying on a local, custom-built control system. For Humanoid, this was the first time its robot had been controlled by an external enterprise system in a live production environment. With KinetIQ allowing robots to integrate into existing facility management structures, the robot became part of the company’s core IT system that manages orders, inventory, and tasks.
“Embodied Joule represents a fundamental shift in how robots understand and respond to business needs,” said Dr. Lukasz Ostrowski, Head of Embodied AI & Robotics at SAP SE. “This proof of concept in the manufacturing industry allows us to demonstrate how humanoid robots can act as extensions of an organization’s operations by providing business context awareness and integration with existing workflows.”
The project ran from January to February 2026 and followed a structured rollout plan: physical twin development, in-house testing, site preparation, and on-site deployment, including setup, training, optimization, and stakeholder demos. The robot delivered strong and successful results under real operational conditions. Moreover, the robot successfully handled three different tote types and operated with an 8 kg dual-arm payload limit.
“This proof of concept shows what matters: humanoid robots operating inside real production environments, connected to enterprise systems and measured against operational standards. That’s the bridge between experimentation and deployment. We’re proud of the progress we have achieved together with SAP and Martur Fompak, and are grateful to our partners for the trust to test our Alpha Wheeled humanoid where it really counts — on the factory floor,” said Artem Sokolov, Founder and CEO of Humanoid.
The team is currently preparing for the next on-site phase of the project, where the integration will be further validated in live production conditions. After completion, partners also plan to jointly assess the POC results, evaluate potential pathways to deploy Humanoid’s robots at Martur Fompak facilities, and explore more complex use cases and workflow scenarios within the production environment.
About Humanoid
Humanoid is a UK-based robotics company building humanoid robots for industrial use, working to become the #1 general-purpose industrial humanoid robotics company within two years. Founded by Artem Sokolov in 2024, Humanoid brings together over 200 engineers, researchers, and innovators from top global tech companies. All robots run on KinetIQ, Humanoid’s proprietary four-layer AI framework designed for real-world deployment.
With offices in London, Boston, and Vancouver, the company is focused on building commercially viable, scalable, and safe robotic solutions for real-world applications. For media inquiries, interviews, or further information, please contact: [email protected]
About SAP
SAP and other SAP products and services mentioned herein, as well as their respective logos, are trademarks or registered trademarks of SAP SE in Germany and other countries. Please see https://www.sap.com/copyright for additional trademark information and notices. All other product and service names mentioned are the trademarks of their respective companies.
Any statements in this release that are not historical facts are forward-looking statements as defined in the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All forward-looking statements are subject to various risks and uncertainties described in SAP’s filings with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), including its most recent annual report on Form 20-F, that could cause actual results to differ materially from expectations. SAP cautions readers not to place undue reliance on these forward-looking statements, which SAP has no obligation to update and which speak only as of their dates.
Humanoid Brings Voice-Activated Multi-Robot Collaboration Powered by KinetIQ to Life at NVIDIA GTC
Humanoid Brings Voice-Activated Multi-Robot Collaboration Powered by KinetIQ to Life at NVIDIA GTC
San Jose, March 20, 2026 — Humanoid, a UK-based AI and robotics company, presented a live demonstration of its multi-robot coordination system at NVIDIA GTC. Built on NVIDIA’s open robotics platform and powered by Humanoid’s KinetIQ AI brain, the system enables fleets of robots to interpret voice requests and coordinate physical actions in real time.
The demonstration featured two wheeled robots equipped with grippers operating in a simulated store environment. Using voice interaction at the booth, visitors could request the robots to handle items such as water bottles or popcorn. Once the request was made, KinetIQ’s Fleet Management system interpreted the command, dynamically assigned tasks between the robots, and coordinated the physical handover of the items. After completing each request, the robots returned to their default positions and waited for the next visitor. The system displayed real-time status updates, showing visitors how tasks were distributed and executed.
The workflow illustrated how humanoid robots can interpret human commands, allocate tasks across a fleet, and safely interact with people. It demonstrated key capabilities required for real-world deployment, including autonomous task allocation, efficient robot-to-robot collaboration, and safe human-robot interaction.
The demonstration was powered by Humanoid’s recently released KinetIQ AI stack, an end-to-end framework designed to orchestrate autonomous robotic fleets. Humanoid is building autonomous general-purpose humanoid robotic systems using NVIDIA’s open robotics platform. Its KinetIQ AI brain leverages NVIDIA GPUs for large-scale model training, the open NVIDIA Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab frameworks for simulation and digital twin development, and edge computing with NVIDIA Jetson to run real-time robotic behaviors on the robots. So, the system builds on NVIDIA’s “three computers” architecture: powerful GPU infrastructure for AI training in the cloud, advanced simulation and digital twin environments for rapid iteration, and high-performance edge computing running directly on the robots. Humanoid is also adopting the NVIDIA Isaac GR00T N1.7, an open reasoning vision language action (VLA) model to scale humanoid robot development. Together, these technologies enable fleets of robots to interpret human commands, coordinate tasks, and execute physical actions autonomously, allowing Humanoid to move rapidly from simulation to real-world deployment of Physical AI systems.
“At Humanoid, we believe the next wave of robotics will come from general-purpose systems that can interact with humans and coordinate physical actions autonomously,” said Artem Sokolov, founder and CEO of Humanoid. “Our close collaboration with NVIDIA allows us to build on the world’s most advanced AI and robotics technologies to accelerate the development of Physical AI. At NVIDIA GTC, we demonstrated how our KinetIQ AI brain makes humanoid robots more practical, scalable, and ready for real-world use. As one of Europe’s leading robotics companies, we are focused on moving beyond prototypes and preparing humanoid robots for real-world deployment as quickly as possible.”
About Humanoid:
Humanoid is a UK-based robotics innovation company dedicated to developing advanced general-purpose humanoid robots that enhance human capabilities. Founded by Artem Sokolov in 2024, Humanoid brings together over 200 engineers, researchers, and innovators from top global tech companies. With offices in London, Boston, and Vancouver, the company is focused on building commercially viable, scalable, and safe robotic solutions for real-world applications. The company is currently developing HMND 01 wheeled and bipedal platforms powered by KinetIQ, Humanoid’s proprietary four-layer AI framework.
For media inquiries, interviews, or further information, please contact: [email protected]
Introducing KinetIQ
Introducing KinetIQ
Today we’re introducing KinetIQ, Humanoid’s own AI framework for end-to-end orchestration of humanoid robot fleets across industrial, service, and home applications. A single system controls robots with different embodiments and coordinates interactions between them.
The architecture is cross-timescale: four layers operate simultaneously, from fleet-level goal assignment to millisecond-level joint control. Each layer treats the layer below as a set of tools, orchestrating them via prompting and tool use to achieve goals set from above. This agentic pattern, proven in frontier AI systems, allows components to improve independently while the overall system scales naturally to larger fleets and more complex tasks.
Our wheeled-base robots run industrial workflows: back-of-store grocery picking, container handling, and packing across retail, logistics, and manufacturing. The bipedal robot is our R&D platform for service and home, showcasing voice interaction, online ordering, and grocery handling as an intelligent assistant.
KinetIQ Features and Architecture overview
Cross-embodiment
A single AI model can control robots with different morphologies and end-effector designs. Data collected on one embodiment helps train and improve performance across the fleet.
Cross-timescale
KinetIQ simultaneously operates across several cognitive layers, each running at its own timescale, both in terms of the decision-making frequency and planning horizon.
System 3 — Humanoid AI Fleet Agent
An agentic AI layer that treats each robot as a tool and reacts within seconds to use them and optimize fleet operations.
System 3 integrates with facility management systems across logistics, retail and manufacturing, and is also applicable to service scenarios and smart-home coordination. Our KinetIQ Agentic Fleet Orchestrator ingests task requests, expected outcomes, SOPs, real-time request updates and facility context, and allocates tasks and information across wheeled and bipedal robots, coordinating robot swaps at workstations, to maximize throughput and uptime.
The KinetIQ Fleet Orchestrator directs two-way communication with facility systems to:
receive new task requests and changes/reassignments,
track task progress and performance metrics,
report completion and issues,
ensure exceptions are handled and resolved in coordination with traditional or agentic facility management systems.
System 2 — Robot-Level Reasoning
A robot-level agentic layer that plans interactions with the environment to achieve goals set by System 3. Spans second to subminute timescale.
System 2 uses an omni-modal language model to observe the environment and interpret high-level instructions from System 3. It decomposes goals into sub-tasks by reasoning about the required actions to complete its assignments, as well as the best sequence and approach. Plans are updated dynamically from visual context instead of relying on fixed, pre-programmed sequences, similar to how agentic systems select and sequence tools. These plans can be saved as workflows/SOPs to be executed again in the future and shared across the fleet.
System 2 also monitors execution and evaluates whether the VLA (System 1) is making progress. If the system determines that it’s unable to complete a task, or needs assistance, it requests human support through the fleet layer (System 3). Assistance can be delivered via interventions at System 2 level (through prompting) or at the level of System 1 (through teleoperation or direct joint control), either remotely or on-site.
System 1 — VLA-Based Low-Level Task Execution
A Vision-Language-Action (VLA) neural network that commands target poses for a subset of robot body parts (such as hands, torso or pelvis), driving progress toward immediate low-level objectives set by System 2.
System 1 exposes multiple low-level capabilities to System 2 that can be invoked via different prompts. Examples include picking & placing objects, manipulating containers, packing or locomoting. VLM-based reasoning of System 2 selects the capability most appropriate for the current situation and the goal. Each low-level capability is also capable of reporting its status (success, failure or in-progress) back to System 2 to facilitate progress tracking.
KinetIQ VLA issues new predictions at subsecond timescale, usually 5-10Hz. Each prediction constitutes a chunk of higher-frequency actions (30 to 50Hz depending on the task) that will be executed by System 0. Action execution is fully asynchronous: a new action chunk is always being prepared while the previous one is still executed.
To ensure that an asynchronously produced chunk doesn’t contradict the reality that unfolded while it was produced, KinetIQ uses the prefix conditioning technique: every chunk prediction is conditioned on the part of the previous chunk that is expected to be executed during inference. Unlike impainting, this is a universal technique equally applicable to both autoregressive and flow-matching models.
System 0 — RL-based Whole-Body Control
The goal of System 0 is to achieve pose targets set by System 1, while solving for the state of all robot joints in a way that continuously guarantees dynamic stability. System 0 runs at 50 Hz.
KinetIQ implementation of System 0 uses RL-trained whole-body control for both bipedal and wheeled robots. Such approach allows KinetIQ to fully exploit synergy between different platforms, benefitting from the power of RL in producing capable locomotion controllers.
Whole body control is trained solely in simulation with online reinforcement learning, requiring roughly 15k hours of experience to produce a capable model.
The Path Toward Solving Physical AI
Working in unison across multiple embodiments and timescales, the four cognitive layers of KinetIQ can achieve complex goals that require fleet orchestration, reasoning, dexterous manipulation, dynamic recovery and stability control. The fully-agentic design of KinetIQ that embraces recent breakthroughs in the field of AI is one of the key factors behind Humanoid’s rapid progress towards solving Physical AI.
Humanoid Shows How Robots Will Work in Tomorrow’s Factories
Humanoid Shows How Robots Will Work in Tomorrow’s Factories
London, UK, January 20, 2026 — Humanoid, a UK-based robotics and AI company has completed a landmark Proof of Concept (POC) at the Ford Innovation Centre in Cologne, Germany. The Humanoid team worked to deploy Humanoid’s wheeled Alpha HMND 01 robot in two complex workflows: tote handling for kitting and dual-arm manipulation of large, metal car body parts. The joint project demonstrated how humanoid robots can take on real industrial tasks in automotive manufacturing with speed, precision, and reliability.
During the POC, HMND 01 Alpha robot autonomously moved totes between workstations with eight kg payloads. The robot sustained a full hour of uninterrupted operation, twice the target, and achieved near-perfect 97% reliability in fully autonomous pick-and-place tasks given the particular conditions of the Proof of Concept. The pick-per-hour target was exceeded by 60%, with 83 units instead of the expected 50. Humanoid leverages advanced AI technology, trained on large, diverse datasets collected across multiple platforms and environments. Thanks to this foundation, this joint POC required only one hour of on-robot data collection to deliver a high-performing autonomous model.
In the second workflow, Alpha demonstrated precise dual-arm handling of a thin, sheet-metal body component. The robot successfully navigated to a shelf, localized the part, lifted it securely, and placed it on the kitting table without issue. Despite the complexity of the workflow, the robot executed it safely and consistently, validating a task traditionally considered difficult for autonomous systems.
The POC was carried out in two phases: in-house development at the Humanoid Lab followed by an on-site demonstration at the Cologne plant. The on-site phase ran smoothly thanks to strong collaboration across safety, logistics, and engineering teams on both sides.
The project was built using NVIDIA’S latest technologies, including operational digital twins developed with NVIDIA Omniverse.
Building on this momentum, Humanoid and Ford Cologne are now exploring opportunities to bring humanoid robots into real production environments, with plans for further demonstrations at the Innovation Centre.
“Innovation only matters when it works on the factory floor. Our joint POC with Ford in Cologne proves that humanoid robots are ready for real industrial tasks — not years from now, but today. Our teams moved from discussion to a live on-site demonstration, and the results exceeded every benchmark. The POC showed that rapid progress is possible when both sides align on scope and maintain commitment to safety,” said Artem Sokolov, founder of Humanoid.
About Humanoid:
Humanoid is a UK-based robotics innovation company dedicated to developing advanced humanoid robots that enhance human capabilities. Founded by Artem Sokolov in 2024, Humanoid brings together over 200 engineers, researchers, and innovators from top global tech companies. With offices in London, Boston, and Vancouver, the company is focused on building commercially viable, scalable, and safe robotic solutions for real-world applications.
For media inquiries, interviews, or further information, please contact: [email protected]
