‘The Great Replacement’: 5 robots replacing human workforce in 2026 - WION

The most recent wave of humanoid‑robot developments is being driven by a mix of industry partnerships, new reference platforms and commercial rollouts. In May 2026 London‑based Humanoid announced collaborations with Bosch and Schaeffler to scale production, while 1X Technologies began full‑scale manufacturing of its quiet‑operating NEO humanoid at a new California facility. Nvidia unveiled the Isaac GR00T reference humanoid, built on the Jetson Thor processor and integrating a Unitree H2 Plus body, Sharpa five‑fingered hands and an open software stack, and subsequently selected Unitree as the hardware partner for a research‑focused robotics system that will ship later in the year. Unitree itself is preparing an IPO on Shanghai’s STAR board and plans to release the upgraded H2 Plus in October, positioning the platform for university labs worldwide. Meanwhile, major tech firms are expanding their robot programs: OpenAI is hiring for a new robotics lab aimed at building a humanoid capable of household tasks; Meta has acquired Assured Robot Intelligence to bolster its AI models for humanoids; and Tesla’s Optimus is slated for limited public sales by the end of 2027 after recent factory trials. Hyundai, through its stake in Boston Dynamics, is planning large‑scale Atlas deployments in its factories by 2028, and Agility Robotics’ Digit is already being used by Amazon, GXO and other logistics players. Automotive makers are also testing humanoids on the shop floor—Toyota is trialling Digit, Xiaomi has fielded its own units in EV production, and BMW’s chief executive touts humanoids as the next step in car manufacturing. On the standards side, NIST has proposed the first formal performance benchmark for humanoids since the 2015 DARPA Robotics Challenge, aiming to give the industry a common way to measure capability. Finally, the Humanoids Summit in Tokyo highlighted rapid advances in dexterity and mobility, with Japanese and Chinese teams showcasing robots that can thread needles, perform coordinated dances and handle payloads up to 55 lb, underscoring the growing commercial push toward deploying bipedal machines in factories, warehouses and service roles.

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