UK robotics startup Humanoid secures one of industry’s largest humanoid rollout deals - The Manufacturer
Posted on 14 May 2026 by James Devonshire Share this article: Share on Linkedin Share on Twitter Share on facebook Copy Link Humanoid’s wheeled humanoid robot, which will be deployed across Schaeffler manufacturing facilities in Germany as part of a large-s...
Key takeaways
The most recent headlines show that humanoid robotics are moving quickly on both industrial and consumer fronts. A two‑year‑old British startup, Humanoid (formerly SKL Robotics), has signed an upgraded agreement with German industrial giant Schaeffler to integrate at least 1,000 wheeled humanoid units into the company’s factories, with plans that could scale to a four‑digit deployment by 2032 and potentially 100,000 robots across all clients over the next five years. In parallel, California‑based Figure AI demonstrated that its Helix‑02 humanoids can operate autonomously for more than 24 hours straight, sorting thousands of packages without any failures, after initially completing an eight‑hour shift. Meanwhile, Sanctuary AI’s founder James Wells reiterated that fully commercial home‑use humanoids are still three to seven years away, even as the company’s 1X line begins full‑scale production of the Neo robot, which is already being pre‑sold for delivery by the end of this year. Finally, the open‑source community gained a new entrant with the release of Asimov v1, a DIY humanoid kit priced around $15,000 that offers 25 degrees of freedom and a Raspberry 5‑based compute stack, lowering the barrier for hobbyists and small‑scale developers to experiment with humanoid platforms.
Posted on 14 May 2026 by James Devonshire
Share this article: Share on Linkedin Share on Twitter Share on facebook Copy Link
Humanoid’s wheeled humanoid robot, which will be deployed across Schaeffler manufacturing facilities in Germany as part of a large-scale industrial automation rollout.
Humanoid will deploy thousands of humanoid robots across Schaeffler manufacturing facilities under one of the largest disclosed industrial humanoid robotics agreements announced to date. The deal follows a strategic partnership announced between the two companies in January 2026 and builds on a series of proof-of-concept projects.
“We’ve already seen strong proof-of-concept results, and now we’re moving into real-world operations where the value of humanoid robotics is proven.
“Together with Schaeffler, one of our key industrial partners, we are taking an important step toward making humanoid robotics part of global manufacturing operations.”
– Artem Sokolov, Humanoid founder.
Dr. Jochen Schroeder, Chief Operating Officer at Schaeffler AG, said the partnership reinforced Schaeffler’s position in advanced robotics and motion technology.
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