Ex-Tesla engineer plans AI robot to replace European retirees in workforce - Washington Examiner
More Technology # Ex-Tesla engineer plans AI robot to replace European retirees in workforce By Victoria Baeza Garcia Published July 7, 2026 4:05pm ET Add Washington Examiner on Google --- Ex-Tesla engineer Remi Cadene unveiled plans to build an AI robot to...
Key takeaways
- The humanoid‑robot sector is accelerating worldwide as Chinese leaders Unitree and UBTECH have just opened full‑cycle facilities in Tianjin’s Economic‑Technological Development Area, creating a local manufacturing base that will handle research, production, after‑sales service and secondary development, while the Chinese government pushes a six‑month commercialization challenge for commercial‑grade humanoids.
- In Europe, former Tesla Autopilot engineer Rémi Cadène’s Paris‑based startup UMA unveiled its first lightweight humanoid, Northstar, at the Machina Summit, showcasing a “real‑time learning” system that lets the robot acquire skills by watching demonstrations and targeting manufacturing, logistics and eventually home use; the company is already in talks with about 50 potential customers and is backed by investors such as Greycroft and Kima Ventures.
- In the United States, Apptronik has expanded its Austin “Robot Park” to collect massive data sets and train its Apollo humanoid platform together with Google DeepMind, while AGIBOT introduced the A3 humanoid in Europe and launched a UK robot‑as‑a‑service offering, and its sister firm Agibot celebrated the roll‑out of its 15,000th unit, the G2 industrial‑grade robot.
- Meanwhile, the U.S. startup Humanoid announced its KinetIQ Ascend reinforcement‑learning approach, claiming 99.9 % manipulation reliability at human speed and securing partnerships with Bosch and Schaeffler to scale production of its HMND line.
- Business Insider’s recent coverage notes that Agility’s Digit has secured more than $300 million in multiyear orders and that 1X plans to ship over 10,000 home‑use humanoids later this year, even as some Silicon‑Valley investors remain skeptical of mass‑market humanoid demand.
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Ex-Tesla engineer plans AI robot to replace European retirees in workforce
By Victoria Baeza Garcia
Published July 7, 2026 4:05pm ET
Add Washington Examiner on Google
Ex-Tesla engineer Remi Cadene unveiled plans to build an AI robot to automate industrial processes amid a decline in the working-age population, targeting Europe first.
The humanoid robot, called “Northstar,” will be used in manufacturing plants, logistics warehouses, and homes, Cadene revealed at the Machina Summit on Tuesday in Paris, France.
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Cadene is himself the CEO and co-founder of a Paris-based startup called UMA, which develops general-purpose AI and humanoid robots. Before founding the startup, he worked on Elon Musk’s driver-assistance system, Autopilot, and the Optimus humanoid robot.
UMA aims to showcase a proof of concept by the end of the year, using wheels rather than legs, and is already in talks with 50 potential customers about use cases for the AI robot.
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Youtube “Labor costs are very high and, given the demographic trends, there will be significant demand,” he said, in reference to the continent’s aging population.
The lightweight robot is expected to weigh 40 kilograms (88 pounds) so it can safely interact with humans, and will be trained to use real-time learning technology, learning a skill by watching a demo and eventually improving at it, according to Bloomberg.
“This is how a child learns to tie his shoelaces, first by being taught how to do it, then improving by practicing,” Cadene said.
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