Humanoid and Siemens Completed a Proof of Concept to Test Humanoid Robots in Industrial Logistics

London, The UK — January 15, 2026 — Humanoid, a UK-based AI and robotics company, and Siemens, a leading technology company, have successfully completed a proof of concept (POC) demonstrating the use of humanoid robots in industrial logistics. Humanoid’s HMND 01 wheeled Alpha robot was deployed in real operations at a Siemens facility, marking a significant step toward the deployment of humanoid robots in industrial settings. This successful POC is the first step in a broader partnership between the two companies to test and validate how humanoid robots can be used in real-world environments.

The POC focused on a tote-to-conveyor destacking task within Siemens’ logistics process. In this use case, the robot autonomously picked totes from a storage stack, transported them to a conveyor, and placed them at the designated pickup point for human operators. This sequence was repeated until the stack was fully empty, which demonstrated how humanoid robots can take on repetitive logistics tasks.

Humanoid and Siemens Completed a Proof of Concept to Test Humanoid Robots in Industrial Logistics HMND_SIEMENS_Cover2_opt-scaled-1.png

The POC was structured in two phases. The first one focused on in-house development and demonstration and has already been completed. During this stage, the Humanoid team built a physical twin to support testing, optimization, and rapid iteration throughout the POC. The second phase involved a two-week on-site deployment at the Siemens Electronics Factory in Erlangen, where partners assessed the robots in a real-world production environment.

This joint POC measured both performance and reliability of humanoid robots under autonomous operation. Target metrics were met in full and included a throughput of 60 tote moves per hour, operation with two different tote sizes, continuous autonomous task execution for more than 30 minutes, uptime exceeding 8 hours. The team also evaluated the POC’s success using the following indicators: overall pick and place success rate and autonomous pick and place success rate, both above 90%.

Humanoid and Siemens see this POC as a first step toward a long-term strategic collaboration — beyond the initial POC, the companies are open to expanding the scope and adding additional use cases. Partners also may progress toward a broader rollout, deploying a greater number of humanoid robots across Siemens’ facilities, based on the robot’s specific skill set.

“At Humanoid, we are a commercially driven company. Our focus is on creating robots that deliver measurable value in real-world settings. Working closely with industrial and technology partners allow us to validate our systems against real operational requirements and understand which use cases matter outside the lab. This joint POC with Siemens showed clear potential for practical deployment of humanoid robots. We see them move steadily toward the real world, and partnerships like this one help accelerate that transition,” noted Artem Sokolov, founder and CEO of Humanoid.

Stephan Schlauss, Global Head of Manufacturing Motion Control, Siemens AG, said: “As Siemens’ customer zero, the Electronics Factory Erlangen is excited to partner with the Humanoid team. We’re tackling production automation, discovering new opportunities for Siemens, and are eager to advance this promising technology across our factory network to deliver customer value.”

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]

About Siemens

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.

Humanoid and Schaeffler Announce Strategic Technology Partnership

Humanoid and Schaeffler Announce Strategic Technology Partnership

London, January 13 — Humanoid, a UK-based robotics and AI company, and Schaeffler, a leading Motion Technology Company, today announced a strategic technologypartnership. Over the next five years, the collaboration will bring hundreds of Humanoid’s robots into Schaeffler’s production facilities, fostering further industrial automation. Beyond deployment, the partnership covers actuator supply, data collection, skill development, and other critical areas.

Initial deployments are scheduled to begin with beta-stage robots in 2026-2027. This phase will focus on validating technical integration, operational performance, and compliance with Schaeffler’s system, safety, IT, and security requirements. Success will be measured across key metrics including performance, efficiency, availability, reliability, serviceability, and ease of integration. Following validation, Humanoid plans to offer its robots under Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) models for the gamma phase, with both RaaS and CapEx options available for later stages.

Under the new agreement, the companies will also strengthen cooperation on the supply and integration of actuator components for Humanoid’s robotic platforms. They will explore the joint development of next-generation actuators, based on technical requirements and design specifications. As part of the partnership, Schaeffler will become Humanoid’s preferred supplier for joint actuators used in the wheeled platform.

As part of the collaboration, the companies will also work together on data collection and skill development for humanoid robots. This includes gathering robot-specific and use-case-driven data through teleoperation, synthetic data generation, as well as peripheral data. The collected information will be used to train AI models and continuously improve robot performance, with skills tailored to Schaeffler’s operational needs.

“Real-world integration is the ultimate test for humanoid robots. Moving from pilots to large-scale deployment requires close alignment on systems, data, safety, and operations with our partners. Our collaboration with Schaeffler allows us to validate and scale humanoid deployment with clear requirements, measurable outcomes, and long-term plans. Together, we are laying the groundwork for humanoid robots to become a practical and reliable part of industrial environments within just a few years,” said Artem Sokolov, founder of Humanoid.

Klaus Rosenfeld, CEO of Schaeffler AG, said: “As a Motion Technology Company, we want to play a key role in the growing humanoid robotics market. To do so, we are relying on our decades-long manufacturing excellence and industrialization expertise. With Humanoid, we are gaining an attractive partner in Europe that will enable us to drive forward joint innovations in the field of humanoid robotics.”

About Humanoid

For media inquiries, interviews, or further information, please contact: [email protected]

Humanoid Deploys NVIDIA Technologies to Power Advanced Humanoid Robots

Humanoid Deploys NVIDIA Technologies to Power Advanced Humanoid Robots

London, The UK — January 6, 2025 — Humanoid, a UK-based AI and robotics company, is accelerating the development of its humanoid robots by integrating NVIDIA technologies — including NVIDIA Jetson Thor, NVIDIA Isaac Sim, and NVIDIA Isaac Lab — into its technology stack. These tools have powered the HMND 01 Alpha robots, now successfully tested in real-world environments, including a recent proof-of-concept with Schaeffler.

Jetson Thor drives the alpha prototype of HMND 01 robots across two platforms: a wheeled system designed for industrial environments, and a recently released bipedal robot which is intended mainly for R&D for future service and household applications. It serves as an extremely powerful edge computer that allows Humanoid to run the latest, largest, and most capable robotic foundation models directly at the edge, bringing unprecedented intelligence to the robots. Jetson Thor significantly simplifies the robot’s system architecture, wiring, manufacturability, and field service ability.

To accelerate development, Humanoid also follows a simulation-first approach using NVIDIA Isaac Lab and Isaac Sim, open-source frameworks for robot learning and simulation. For example, Isaac Lab powers reinforcement learning for improving locomotion and manipulation capabilities. The team also has developed custom hardware-in-the-loop validation with Isaac Sim, creating digital twins that use the same interfaces as the real robots. This allows engineers to seamlessly switch between simulated and physical robots when testing middleware, control systems, teleoperation, and full-body control. Isaac Sim is also used to validate navigation and manipulation policies long before the robot is deployed on site.

At the same time, simulation plays a critical role in hardware design. By analyzing forces, motion, and stability in the virtual environment, the team can optimize actuator selection, joint strength, mass distribution, and overall robot stability before building physical prototypes. This approach led to improvements in balance, durability, and performance across both wheeled and bipedal robots. As a result, Humanoid designed its first alpha prototypes in just 7 months, much faster than typical 18-24 month hardware cycles.

Moreover, for training Vision-Language-Action models, Humanoid uses NVIDIA AI Infrastructure, reducing post-training time to just a few hours.

The impact is tangible. Tasks that traditionally would take months and require large expert teams can now be achieved in a much shorter time. Today, Humanoid can train a policy from scratch and deploy it on a real robot within 24 hours.

NVIDIA’s open libraries and frameworks play an essential role in identifying and resolving potential issues early in development. Isaac Sim, the team validated navigation and SLAM performance, and analyzed stability and torque requirements. Humanoid optimized sensor and camera placement for reliable perception in real-world environments. For the bipedal robot, simulation was also used to evaluate 6 different leg configurations — it helped finalize hardware designs before physical testing and reduce potential risks.

This approach becomes increasingly important for safe and reliable deployment outside of controlled laboratory settings. As a commercially oriented company, Humanoid is focused on bringing robots into real operational environments early, gathering feedback, and iterating quickly. To date, Humanoid has already received 20,500 pre-orders, completed 6 proof-of-concepts, and has three additional pilots currently in progress.

“NVIDIA’s open robotics development platform helps the industry move past legacy industrial communication standards and make the most of modern networking capabilities. We’re currently working closely with NVIDIA and other partners on a new robotics networking system built on Jetson Thor and the Holoscan Sensor Bridge. We believe this co-developed open network standard for AI-enabled robots could make a big impact across the industry. Together, we can open the way for software-defined robots,” said Jarad Cannon, Chief Technology Officer at Humanoid.

About Humanoid

For media inquiries, interviews, or further information, please contact: [email protected]

2025: The Year of the Humanoid

2025: The Year of the Humanoid

Anyone following the humanoid robotics space will remember 2025 as a turning point. For years, the conversation in the field was dominated by research papers, promises, staged videos and teleoperated robots serving drinks. This year, things changed, and the industry started to take real, tangible form.

Demos became more rooted in real life and more convincing. Companies opened pre-orders, launched pilot programs, and made significant progress in testing humanoids in real environments. New platforms appeared almost every week. Investment capital poured into the sector at an unseen pace.

As expectations are growing and stakes rising, we decided to take a step back and look at the year behind. Below is our summary of the key moments that defined humanoid robotics in 2025: major investments, product announcements, pilot deployments, regulatory advancements and much more.

The Market Expanded, With the U.S. and EU Leading

The numbers tell a similar story: in 2025, the humanoid robotics market continued to grow.

In terms of regions, the largest markets in 2025 are the United States and the European Union, each approaching $750 million. China follows with approximately $242 million, while MENA ($145 million) and Japan ($126 million) are closing the top-5. So, despite many news headlines positioning China as the leader in humanoid robotics, the data shows a different picture — for now. The race is still far from over.

Looking forward, most analysts expect humanoid robotics to grow at incredibly high rates over the next 5-10 years. More optimistic forecasts predict a CAGR of 35-50%, with breakthroughs in AI, falling production costs, and rising demand across sectors that fuel rapid expansion. More conservative reports expect around 7-20% annual growth, as well as some regulatory and technical challenges.

At the same time, the humanoid robotics industry is still at a very early stage of development. People never coexisted with humanoids before, so uncertainty is still very high. We could assume that the growth trajectory will depend on progress in mobility, manipulation, autonomy, and safety. Other important factors will include cost reduction, regulatory approvals, and real-world adoption cases.

Funding and Investment Speeds up the Race

By the end of 2025, global investment in humanoid robotics is expected to exceed $4 billion, which is a very clear signal that the industry has moved into the mainstream of tech and industrial investment.

Several major funding rounds defined the year, according to Crunchbase data. First of all, UBTech Robotics led the way with a $1.3 billion, backed by major players including Qiming Venture Partners, CDH Investments, Tencent, Titanium Ventures, and CITIC Securities. Then, founded in 2022, Figure followed with a $1 billion Series C round, attracting strategic investors such as OpenAI, NVIDIA, Karman Ventures, Brookfield Asset Management, and Bezos Expeditions. Apptronik closed top-3 with a $735 million investment, with participation from B Capital, ARK Investment Management, Korea Investment Partners, Bossa Invest, and Scrum Ventures.

Among other top-5 rounds of the year, Physical Intelligence secured $600 million to advance robot foundation models, and Leju Robotics — more than $200 million.

Investment in humanoid robotics in 2025 was truly global, from the U.S., to China and Europe. We can expect that this competition will most probably speed up innovation, lower the costs, and lead to earlier commercialization, which will be beneficial for the whole market.

At the same time, not every startup will succeed. Some will pivot, a few will fail. We predict that winners will be those who in the long run will be able to show customer value through real cases of automation and integration into existing workflows. The market wants robots that can do real work, not those that are better at dancing in videos.

Major Launches and Announcements

If 2025 could have been described with one word, then it would have been “buzz”, which stood for viral announcements, bold demos, and high-impact partnerships

Figure had one of its major moments of the year with the launch of Figure 03. “Figure 03 is designed for Helix, the home, and the world at scale”, they mentioned in the announcement. Time recently named it one of the Best Inventions of 2025.

Another highlight was the launch of NEO Gamma by 1X, a company famous for its strategy of focusing on home-use robots, unlike most other players. NEO now comes in a consumer-friendly domestic design, walks with a natural human gait and arm swings, and has enhanced general-purpose manipulation. In October, a Norwegian-American company broke the internet with a pre-order announcement that quickly went viral worldwide.

In China, Unitree introduced H2. The company, which is often referred to by the media as China’s answer to Boston Dynamics, showed a viral clip of their latest humanoid robot with incredible dancing and kickboxing skills.

At Humanoid, we announced the launch of two platforms: alpha-versions of our HMND 01 wheeled and bipedal robots. Our wheeled humanoid, designed for Industrial use, was built in just 7 months, which is the fastest humanoid development cycle in history. As for the bipedal robot, the speed was even faster. Built in just 5 months, compared with the industry average of 18 to 24 months, it achieved stable walking only 48 hours after final assembly, which usually takes weeks or even months.

All of these advances in the field wouldn’t be possible without a strong foundation, and in this space, no company rivals NVIDIA. In 2025, NVIDIA made several bold announcements that shook the humanoid robotics industry. The company grabbed headlines with GR00T N1, the world’s first open humanoid robot foundation model, and Jetson Thor, described as “the ultimate platform for physical AI.”

Humanoid became one of the leading European companies to integrate NVIDIA Jetson Thor into our HMND 01 alpha prototype. This high-performance “robotic brain” helps our robots run multi-AI workflows and large-scale generative AI models, bringing them closer to real-world intelligence and autonomy.

Partnerships: Humanoids Got Real Jobs

2025 was also very much a year of partnerships, especially between robotics companies and real-world operators. To move beyond demos, humanoids need real environments, and collaboration is the fastest way to get there.

For example, Apptronik partnered with Jabil, a global leader in engineering and manufacturing. Together, they launched a pilot program to integrate Apollo humanoid robots into Jabil’s manufacturing operations. The scope includes inspection, sorting, kitting, line-side delivery, fixture placement, and sub-assembly. On the automotive side, Mercedes-Benz deepened its relationship with Apptronik by acquiring a stake in the company. The investment came one year after Mercedes-Benz began using Apollo humanoids in its automobile production processes.

Figure continued its collaboration with BMW, sharing detailed results from an 11-month deployment of the Figure 02 robot at BMW’s Spartanburg plant. The robots ran 10-hour shifts, logged more than 1,250 hours of runtime, handled 90,000+ parts, contributed to the production of 30,000+ vehicles, and executed an estimated 1.2 million robot steps, which equals to more than 200 miles.

At Humanoid, we have been commercially oriented from day one. And for us, 2025 was also pivotal: we began testing robots in real-world environments. One of our first POCs was a near-production trial with our pre-alpha HMND 01 robot at Schaeffler’s plant in Germany.

Finally, partnerships expanded beyond companies to the government level. South Korea launched the K-Humanoid Alliance, bringing together institutions, universities, and industrial and robotics companies. Their goal is ambitious: to develop a national humanoid platform, standardize interfaces, build a shared AI “robot brain”, and create globally competitive humanoids by 2030.

Europe Raises the Bar in Regulation

As humanoid robots move to real-world deployment, regulation becomes a defining success factor. Commercial humanoid projects must now be built with compliance, transparency, safety, and accountability in mind from day one.

Europe, traditionally a region with higher regulatory standards, is leading this path. In 2025, the European Union issued the EU Artificial Intelligence Act (AI Act). Obligations include data governance and traceability, human oversight, robustness and cybersecurity, transparency, among others. For robotics companies operating in Europe, it means increased compliance costs, but at the same time it brings the potential to strengthen enterprise and consumer trust.

In addition, the EU also published its Rolling Plan for ICT Standardisation, which includes a dedicated section on robotics and autonomous systems. For robot manufacturers and system integrators, meeting these standards will likely become a requirement, or at least a significant competitive advantage, for deploying robots in Europe.

Across the Atlantic, the regulatory tone is very different. In 2025, the United States issued U.S. Executive Order 14179, titled “Removing Barriers to American Leadership in AI.” Its main goal is to reduce regulatory burdens and accelerate AI and robotics development. For humanoid robotics, it means faster experimentation, quicker product releases, and earlier industrial deployments. All these are essential requirements to compete in the humanoid race.

The broader trend is that the regulatory environment for robots is maturing. This raises the bar for design, testing, documentation, compliance across the industry, but also helps create a more stable market.

At the same time, companies face higher risk if they fail to meet emerging AI and robotics requirements, which makes long-term planning more conservative. Because regulation is still incomplete and fragmented on the global scale, firms that operate internationally will need to navigate a patchwork of national and regional rules, which may slow global scaling.

Which Sectors are Ready for Humanoids?

In 2025, logistics, warehousing, and manufacturing are among the leading application areas, where most of the humanoid robotics players are experimenting at the moment. The reasons behind this trend are aging populations and labor shortages. The World Health Organization estimates that by 2030, 1 in 6 people globally will be aged 60 or over. It also projects a shortfall of 11 million healthcare workers by the same year.

The push for 24/7 operations, and the need for robots that can navigate human-centric spaces are all driving tests and pilots. Last year, a National Association of Manufacturers reported that more than 71% of manufacturers in the U.S. had difficulty attracting and retaining employees. Humanoid robots could be an answer.

In retail, hospitality, customer service, and public-sector settings, companies mainly test humanoid robots for front-facing roles like reception, assistance, and concierge services. In such environments, perceived “sociability” or “presence” really matter and their appearance and communication capabilities make them well suited for these tasks. However, at the moment, most deployments are still at the pilot stage.

Other growth areas for humanoids include education and research, security and disaster response, and long-term home assistance. In these segments scalability will depend a lot on robots’ reliability, safety, and cost.

Key 2025 Trends

The AI Brain: Humanoids as “Embodied AI” Agents

Humanoids are evolving from being meticulously programmed and controlled machines to “embodied AI” agents that learn and adapt. They are not just trained for single, scripted tasks, instead modern robots learn from massive datasets of video and simulation data. This way, they learn skills that could be generalized (for example, “pick up an object” or “open the door”) and transfer to the real world.

Companies like Boston Dynamics, 1X, Figure, and Humanoid train their AI policies in ultra-realistic virtual simulations using platforms such as NVIDIA Isaac Sim before deploying them to physical robots. With this approach, they can significantly speed up development and avoid potential hardware damage.

The Body: From Engineering Marvels to Practical Tools

General focus in the field is shifting from creating astonishing but fragile biomechanical marvels towards building practical, reliable, and cost-effective platforms. Hydraulic systems (for example, the previous version of Atlas) are giving way to high-torque electric joints. They are quieter, cleaner, more energy-efficient, and easier to maintain, as seen in platforms like Figure 031, Tesla Optimus, or Apptronik Apollo.

Companies are also designing robots with swappable components, including arms, hands, end-effectors, and even battery packs, to tailor them for specific tasks. This is modularity in action, and the emphasis is on safety, longer battery life, and real-world usability. Cost is a defining factor in the commercial viability of humanoid robots, and it must be addressed at the design stage. This means designing systems around real, well-defined tasks instead of overengineering for potential future use cases.

Today, humanoid robots are still very expensive. Because of immature supply chains and complicated subsystems, unit costs are typically in the range of $150,000-500,000. However, cost reduction is achievable. Between 2022 and 2024, it already dropped by at least 40%, and we can expect further reductions as production scales.

More Players Choose Robotics-as-a-Service (RaaS) Business Model

Business models are evolving together with technology. Instead of selling humanoid robots as multi-hundred-thousand-dollar equipment, many companies are moving toward the Robotics-as-a-Service business model. It means that they lease the robots and charge by the hour or per task. This approach significantly lowers the barrier to enter and makes humanoids more affordable and accessible to a much wider range of customers.

Looking forward, as we move into 2026, we can expect more commercial deployments as companies begin to treat humanoid robots not as experiments, but as operational tools. And one day, almost without noticing how it happened, having a humanoid colleague or a humanoid assistant at home may feel as natural as having a smartphone in your pocket.

Humanoid Unveils Record Breaking Bipedal Robot Walking 48 Hours After Assembly

Humanoid Unveils Record Breaking Bipedal Robot Walking 48 Hours After Assembly

London, UK, December 2, 2025 — Humanoid, a UK-based robotics and AI company, today unveiled HMND 01 Alpha Bipedal, a humanoid robot that sets a new benchmark for development speed and operational readiness. Built from initial design to working prototype in just five months, compared with the industry average of 18 to 24 months, Alpha achieved stable walking only 48 hours after final assembly, a milestone that typically takes weeks or even months.

The secret lies in Humanoid’s approach to both hardware and software. The team relied on ultra-precise 3D modeling to create prototypes that closely match simulation, minimizing the “sim-to-real” gap that often slows humanoid development. Using Nvidia’s Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab, the team trained more than 52.5 million seconds of reinforcement-learning locomotion data in simulation, equivalent to nearly 19 months of conventional training, in only two days. The robot took its first real-world steps after just 3.2 million seconds, with minimal randomization needed to handle external pushes of up to 350 Newtons.

Standing 179 centimeters (5’10’’) tall with 29 degrees of freedom excluding end-effectors, Alpha combines top-class upper-body strength with a bimanual payload capacity of 15 kilograms (33 lbs). Its modular end-effectors can be fitted with either 12-degree-of-freedom five-fingered hands or 1-degree-of-freedom parallel grippers, while its head features six RGB cameras, two depth sensors, and a six-microphone array. The robot’s body is equipped with haptic sensors, force/torque sensors, and joint torque feedback, all powered by Nvidia Jetson Orin AGX and Intel i9 processors. Its battery provides three hours of swappable power, ensuring extended operation during testing and development.

“HMND 01 is designed to address real-world challenges across industrial and home environments,” said Artem Sokolov, Founder and CEO of Humanoid. “With manufacturing sectors facing labour shortages of up to 27%, leaving significant gaps in production, and millions of people performing physically demanding or repetitive tasks, robots can provide meaningful support. In domestic environments, they have the potential to assist elderly people or those with physical limitations, helping with object handling, coordination, and daily activities. Every day, over 16 billion hours are spent on unpaid domestic and care work worldwide — work that, if valued economically, would exceed 40% of GDP in some countries. By taking on these responsibilities, humanoid robots can free humans to focus on higher-value and safer work, improving their productivity and quality of life.”

Alpha Bipedal is designed for robust and repeatable performance across multiple applications, including industrial, household, and service tasks. It can walk in straight and curved trajectories, turn in place, sidestep, squat, hop, run, manipulate objects with precision, recover from omnidirectional pushes, and coordinate with other humanoid or wheeled robots. Beyond locomotion and manipulation, it can engage with humans via a head display, LEDs, speakers, and audio sensing, while its VLM and VLA-based KinetIQ framework enables advanced reasoning and task execution.

Humanoid’s approach emphasizes modularity and versatility, allowing future upgrades to the robot’s upper body, end-effectors, and even garments. The platform is optimized for low total cost of ownership, fast training and adoption of AI policies, and high payload-to-cost ratio.

HMND 01 Alpha Bipedal expands Humanoid’s robotics portfolio, following the wheeled Alpha platform, which was recently launched and has already completed its first commercial POCs, and extends the company’s reach from industrial and logistics tasks, including warehouse automation, picking, and palletizing, to domestic support applications.

For media inquiries, interviews, or further information, please contact: [email protected]

Video link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=44WPYlAvIK0

Humanoid and QSS AI & Robotics Launch MENA’s First Humanoid Robotics Showroom

Riyadh, Saudi Arabia — November 25, 2025 — Humanoid, a UK-based AI and robotics company, launched the Middle East’s first dedicated humanoid robotics showroom in collaboration with QSS AI & Robotics, Saudi Arabia’s leading robotics and artificial intelligence company focused on localizing advanced technologies. The launch marks a bold step forward for AI innovation in the region and forms part of a strategic partnership designed to accelerate humanoid deployment across key sectors in the Kingdom.

The Humanoid Lounge showroom offers visitors an immersive view of the future of automation, with live demonstrations, educational workshops, and direct interaction with the latest humanoid robots. At the opening, HMND 01 Alpha Wheeled, the UK’s first industrial humanoid robot, performed live simulation and teleoperation tasks, giving attendees the unique opportunity to experience human-robot interaction firsthand through a “talk to a robot” feature.

Built by Humanoid in just seven months, HMND 01 Alpha Wheeled exemplifies the company’s advanced engineering capabilities and represents one of the fastest development cycles for a humanoid robot, an achievement that allowed for immediate real-world testing and validation. Within 18 months since its foundation, Humanoid completed four commercial Proofs of Concept, demonstrating both the robot’s industrial readiness and the company’s ability to transition cutting-edge humanoid technology from prototype to near-term deployment.

As part of the partnership, Humanoid and QSS have established a pre-order framework for up to 10,000 humanoid units over five years, marking one of the largest commitments to humanoid robotics in the Middle East. QSS will serve as Humanoid’s exclusive partner in Saudi Arabia and oversee local assembly at the Riyadh Robotics Factory, enabling rapid broad deployment across manufacturing, logistics, energy, retail, and public infrastructure.

“Saudi Arabia is moving faster than any region in the world to integrate humanoid robotics into industrial use. Opening a showroom with QSS is just one step toward creating a gateway for businesses to experience robotics firsthand and scale automation with confidence. This partnership turns advanced engineering into practical impact across every major sector in the Kingdom,” said Artem Sokolov, Founder and CEO of Humanoid.

“Our collaboration with Humanoid marks a new chapter for Saudi Arabia’s robotics industry. By combining their global expertise with our local manufacturing capabilities and Vision 2030 alignment, we are laying the foundation for large-scale deployment. This is how we transform the Kingdom into a regional hub for advanced robotics,” added Dr. Elie Metri, CEO of QSS.

Saudi Arabia is rapidly scaling its industrial robotics capabilities as part of its Vision 2030 strategy to diversify the economy and drive high-tech growth. The Kingdom’s industrial robotics market, valued at $178.2 million in 2024, is projected to reach $543.7 million by 2033, reflecting a robust compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 11.8%.

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 180 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]

About QSS AI & Robotics

QSS AI & Robotics is a Saudi company pioneering robotics and artificial intelligence manufacturing & localization in alignment with Vision 2030. Established in Riyadh, QSS designs, manufactures, and deploys advanced robotic systems and AI, including SARA and MOHAMAD, the first Saudi-made humanoid robots. With its dedicated R&D division, AI software development labs, and the first Saudi robotics factory, QSS leads national efforts in automation, AI integration, and smart technology manufacturing.

Humanoid Explores Integration of Humanoid Robotics with SAP’s Embodied AI for Industrial Applications

London, November 5 — Humanoid, a UK-based AI and robotics company, announced a collaboration with SAP to develop and demonstrate real-world robotics solutions. Together, the companies will explore the integration of cognitive humanoid robots into industrial and enterprise environments through a series of Proofs of concept (POCs) combining Humanoid’s latest HMND 01 platform with SAP’s enterprise software solutions, addressing a market estimated at $15–20 billion by 2030, equivalent to 300,000–400,000 robots, with longer-term projections of $38 billion by 2035.

The first joint pilot is planned with Martur Fompak International, a first-tier supplier and solution partner for automotive seating and interior systems. The global manufacturer plans to deploy Humanoid’s modular humanoid platforms to explore automation of complex seat-assembly processes. The proof-of-concept focuses on intelligent kitting — selecting diverse seat components from organized bins and placing them precisely into containers bound for the production line alongside tote handling from storage to production. The POC will integrate directly with SAP Extended Warehouse Management (EWM) for real-time inventory and order management.

This cognitive robotics solution addresses the complexity of automotive seat production, where numerous configuration variants demand precise component selection and coordinated assembly. SAP’s proof-of-concept embodied-AI agents provide business-context awareness, enabling robots to understand production schedules, customer specifications, and quality requirements while maintaining seamless integration with existing manufacturing workflows.

The initial in-house POC results of the intelligent kitting use case have been demonstrated at SAP’s TechEd event in Berlin in November 2025.

Through this partnership, SAP will contribute its deep business process and enterprise software expertise, while Humanoid will provide experience in cognitive robotics systems. Both companies will explore further collaboration opportunities: building their solutions on each other’s platforms, integrating them into their portfolio, and enabling data exchange.

“This partnership is an important step toward bringing humanoid robotics into enterprise operations at scale,” said Artem Sokolov, founder of Humanoid. “Together with SAP, we’re exploring how cognitive robots can extend automation beyond the factory floor, into every environment where people work.”

“Embodied AI represents a fundamental shift in how robots understand and respond to business needs,” said Philipp Herzig, CTO of SAP SE. “We look forward to exploring the potential of our embodied AI agents together with Humanoid. The first 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.”

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 180 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]

Humanoid and Schaeffler Successfully Completed Proof of Concept for Bin Picking with Pre-Alpha Robot

London, October 29 — Humanoid, a UK-based robotics and AI company, has successfully completed a Proof of Concept (POC) with Schaeffler using its pre-alpha robot. The project showcased Humanoid’s robot in a real-world use case: bin picking of metallic bearing rings in clutter, carried out in a near-production setting at the Schaeffler site in Erlangen, Germany.

The task involved continuously picking bearing rings from bins at a static station using the robot’s parallel grippers, transferring them to a buffer table for further processing, and moving between stations. According to Schaeffler’s and Humanoid’s analysis, traditional automation systems such as robotic arms or cobots, suffer from low utilization and limited ROI for this use case, while humanoid robots bring clear advantages. These include mobility for multi-machine operation, AI models that generalize skills across many ring types, and autonomous correction capabilities for real-time regrasp.

The POC results fully met the established expectations This way the Humanoid team demonstrated its ability to develop new skills rapidly, fine-tune performance on-site, and transfer policies from lab environments into real-world facilities with minimal adjustments.

To support the POC, Humanoid built a physical twin in its lab and used teleoperation with leader arms to collect training data. This data was used to fine-tune a pre-trained VLA model. Required cameras and sensors were integrated directly into the robot, minimizing installation requirements.

“At Humanoid, early POCs are one of our key priorities because they allow us to iterate faster — to go into the real world as early as possible and learn what our future customers truly need. This project proved that even at the pre-alpha stage, our platform can deliver tangible value in operational settings. We see high potential for more operational applications with humanoids at Schaeffler’s factories,” said Artem Sokolov, founder of Humanoid.

“Humanoid robotics plays a crucial role in the production of the future. Schaeffler plans to deploy a significant number of humanoid robots in its global manufacturing footprint. The successful proof of concept (POC) with Humanoid is another important milestone on this path. We look forward to making progress together in the next phase of the project leveraging our extensive expertise in manufacturing“, says Sebastian Jonas, Senior Vice President Advanced Production Technology at Schaeffler.

Looking ahead, both companies are discussing next steps and moving into the second phase of the POC in a production environment. This next phase will involve Humanoid’s alpha robot — the company’s first in-house designed and built platform. It will bring higher payload capacity, more advanced manipulation, and improved AI performance. The goal is to validate performance in realistic manufacturing conditions, including noise, dust, materials, and operational demands.

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 170 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]

Humanoid and QSS AI & Robotics Announce Strategic Partnership to Advance Robotics Development in Saudi Arabia

London, October 20 — Humanoid, a UK-based AI and robotics company, announced a strategic partnership with QSS AI & Robotics, Saudi Arabia’s leading robotics and artificial intelligence company pioneering the localization of advanced technologies under Vision 2030.. By combining Humanoid’s product innovation with QSS’s deep regional expertise, infrastructure, and government partnerships, the collaboration aims to accelerate the deployment and local manufacturing of humanoid robots across the Kingdom.

Under the agreement, QSS AI & Robotics will serve as Humanoid’s exclusive commercial,distribution, and localization partner in Saudi Arabia. The partnership will focus on introducing, deploying, and supporting Humanoid’s robots across key sectors, including manufacturing, logistics, retail, and infrastructure.

Humanoid & QSS, together, will co-develop a localized market-entry strategy, ensuring full alignment with Saudi Arabia’s Vision 2030 and its national digital transformation roadmap.

As part of the collaboration, QSS will utilize its state-of-the-art Robotics Factory in Riyadh, the first of its kind in Saudi Arabia, to explore localized assembly, customization, and support operations for Humanoid. This will enable sustainable scaling, cost efficiency, and faster market delivery.

The partners have also agreed on a non-binding pre-order framework of up to 10,000 humanoid units for the Saudi clients over the next five years, marking one of the largest potential humanoid deployments in the Middle East.

To further promote innovation and engagement, Humanoid and QSS will establish a flagship “Humanoid Lounge” in Riyadh, a co-branded experience centre that will showcase Humanoid’s latest robotics platforms. The lounge will feature live demos, customer experiences, and educational sessions, serving as a hub for collaboration and inspiration on the future of robotics in the Kingdom.

“Saudi Arabia represents one of the most forward-looking markets in the world when it comes to innovation,” said Artem Sokolov, founder of Humanoid. “This partnership is our first step into the MENA region, a market with immense potential for large-scale adoption of humanoid robots. Together with QSS, we aim to bring humanoid robotics from concept to reality, driving efficiency, safety, and progress across industries”.

“This partnership reinforces our mission to localize global technology within Saudi Arabia,” said Dr. Elie Metri, CEO of QSS AI & Robotics. “By combining Humanoid’s world-class engineering with our local manufacturing capabilities, ecosystem, and government alignment, we’re paving the way for a new era of humanoid robotics made, developed, and deployed from the heart of Saudi Arabia.”

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 180 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]

About QSS AI & Robotics

Humanoid Unveils the UK’s First Humanoid Robot For Industrial Use

Built in just seven months, HMND 01 Alpha prototype is the fastest-developed humanoid to date and the company has already completed its first commercial Proofs of Concept

UK-based robotics and AI company Humanoid today announced the launch of HMND 01 Alpha, the country’s first humanoid robot for industrial use. Built in just seven months, Alpha represents the fastest humanoid development cycle in history. Within its first founding year, Humanoid has already completed two commercial Proofs of Concept (POCs), positioning HMND 01 as the only industrial humanoid robot on track for commercial deployment within the next 12 months.

The launch comes as industries face widening shortages and productivity challenges. In the UK alone, manufacturers report more than 58,000 unfilled vacancies, while across Europe more than one in four manufacturers (26%) cite labour shortages as a critical barrier to growth and one of the sector’s biggest challenges. In the United States, the situation is even more severe, with around 600,000 jobs currently unfilled – a figure projected to rise to 2.1 million by 2030. Humanoid is targeting these challenges directly, starting with deployments in warehouses, logistics hubs, and retail facilities. Here, HMND 01 can take on repetitive, physically demanding tasks such as picking and sorting goods, machine feeding, kitting, loading and unloading inventory, and supporting packaging and fulfilment. By working alongside people in environments designed for humans, the robot boosts throughput, reduces errors, and improves working conditions – all without the costly infrastructure changes typical of traditional automation.

“Robots shouldn’t replace people, they should support them,” said Artem Sokolov, Founder of Humanoid. “After scaling my family’s manufacturing business, I saw firsthand the toll repetitive work took on employees, including my own grandparents. HMND 01 is built to fill the labour gaps, letting people to focus on more meaningful work. We are targeting a $38B industrial TAM, projected to reach $1T by 2050, with a clear path to market leadership in Europe. Globally, robot density averages 162 per 10,000 workers, and each additional robot can boost overall productivity by up to 7%, which means more output, fewer errors, and less strain on the team. That’s why we see HMND 01 not just as a machine, but as a step toward a more sustainable and human‑centred future of work.”

What sets Humanoid apart is its approach: a proprietary combination of 360° simulation training and real-world data flywheels. This dual system is already delivering tangible results – twice the development speed at half the cost compared to traditional methods. Standing 220 centimetres (cm) tall, Alpha is a wheeled humanoid that the team believes is the most robust wheeled robotic platform in the world. It can reach speeds of up to 7.2 kilometres per hour (km/h) and carry bimanual payloads of 15 kilograms (kg), with the ability to lift even more when objects are closer to the body. Its reach spans from the floor up to two metres, with shelf depths of up to 60 centimetres, allowing it to pick goods directly from the ground or from high storage locations. Alpha features 29 active degrees of freedom (DOF), excluding end-effectors, and is powered by AI-driven, end-to-end reasoning. Its end-effectors can be fitted with either a 12-DOF five-fingered hand or a 1-DOF parallel gripper, allowing the robot to adapt to tasks requiring either dexterity or simple/heavy handling. The head is equipped with 360-degree RGB cameras and two depth sensors for comprehensive perception.

HMND 01 Alpha is primarily designed for testing across industrial facilities, gathering insights on which functions are market-ready, which need refinement, and what new capabilities are required. These learnings will help to shape Beta wheeled robot, scheduled for launch in Q3 2026.

Humanoid is backed by $50 million in founder-led capital and a 175-strong team that includes alumni from Apple, Tesla, Google, Boston Dynamics, Sanctuary AI, and Nvidia. Humanoid will operate on a Robots-as-a-Service (RaaS) model, enabling enterprise customers to achieve a fast ROI, with potential labour cost savings of up to 50% annually, while experiencing firsthand how intelligent humanoid robots can enhance productivity, improve working conditions, and transform the future of industrial work.