HUMANOID ROBOTS
Humanoid Robots in Factories in 2026: Real Deployments vs Hype
Humanoids are moving totes and loading parts in a handful of real plants. Here is what each deployment achieved, where the hype runs ahead of the numbers, and the skills that matter.
In 2026, humanoid robots are working in a small number of real factories and warehouses, mostly moving totes and loading parts. Agility Robotics' Digit is in commercial use at Schaeffler, GXO and Toyota's Canadian plant, Figure's robots completed an 11-month run at BMW in South Carolina, and Humanoid's HMND 01 passed a trial at Siemens in Erlangen. Fleets are still small next to the 5 million conventional industrial robots in service, so the skills that pay today are robot programming, safety, vision and ROS 2.
Checked 1 October 2026. Every deployment figure below comes from the company's own announcement or filing, listed under Sources. We left out claims we could not trace to a primary source.
Where are humanoid robots actually working in 2026?
Agility Robotics Digit: the most commercial so far
In its 24 June 2026 announcement of a planned stock-market listing through a merger with Churchill Capital Corp XI (valuing the business at about US$2.5 billion), Agility said Digit operates commercially with Schaeffler, GXO, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada and Mercado Libre, automating repetitive physical tasks in manufacturing, distribution and logistics. Across deployment commitments at nine customer facilities, Digit had accumulated more than 65,000 hours of operation. Agility reported more than US$300 million of multi-year contracted orders for Digit v5, which it says is designed to be the first AI-enabled cooperatively safe humanoid.
Read that wording carefully: "designed to be" cooperatively safe is a design goal for the next model, not a certification.
Figure at BMW Spartanburg: the most detailed report
Figure published the clearest numbers of any humanoid deployment. Its Figure 02 robots loaded sheet-metal parts at BMW's Spartanburg plant for 11 months, running 10-hour shifts Monday to Friday. Figure reports:
- more than 1,250 hours of runtime and more than 90,000 parts loaded;
- a contribution to the production of more than 30,000 BMW X3 vehicles;
- a requirement to load within 37 seconds of an 84-second cycle, with targets of more than 99% placement success per shift and zero interventions;
- about 1.2 million steps, or more than 200 miles walked.
The most useful part for engineers is the failure analysis. Figure says the forearm was the main point of hardware failure, and that Figure 03 re-architected the wrist electronics to remove a distribution board and dynamic cabling. Anyone who has replaced a robot's dress pack will recognise the lesson: cables that flex all day fail first.
Humanoid HMND 01: from a Siemens trial to a Schaeffler contract
UK-based Humanoid ran a proof of concept with Siemens, announced in January 2026. Its wheeled HMND 01 Alpha robot did tote-to-conveyor destacking at the Siemens Electronics Factory in Erlangen, Germany, including a two-week on-site phase. It met the agreed targets: 60 tote moves per hour, two tote sizes, more than 30 minutes of continuous autonomous operation, more than 8 hours of uptime, and pick-and-place success above 90%.
In May 2026 Humanoid signed what it calls a binding, phased deployment and supply agreement with Schaeffler for a four-digit number of wheeled robots across Schaeffler's global facilities by 2032. The first phase runs from December 2026 to June 2027 at Herzogenaurach (box handling) and Schweinfurt, and Schaeffler is to supply more than half of Humanoid's joint actuators through 2031.
Hexagon AEON at Fill
In April 2026, Hexagon Robotics and the Austrian machine builder Fill announced a pilot of the AEON humanoid on one of Fill's client use cases in Gurten, Austria, covering machine tending, inspection and operational support. It is a pilot announcement; we found no published results.
How much of it is hype?
The deployments are real, but the numbers are modest and the tasks are simple:
- The tasks are basic material handling. Moving totes and loading parts are the simplest jobs in a plant. They were chosen because they are forgiving, not because they are what humanoids will eventually do.
- The throughput is modest. Sixty tote moves an hour with 90% success is a credible start, but a conveyor or an autonomous mobile robot with an arm can match it. The argument for a humanoid is that it fits into spaces and stations designed for people without rebuilding them.
- Many "humanoids" have wheels. HMND 01 Alpha is a wheeled robot with a humanoid upper body. Legs add balance and fall hazards that most factory floors do not need.
- The money is far ahead of the fleets. Contract values and valuations are large; the largest disclosed fleet plan, Schaeffler's, is a four-digit number of robots by 2032. Against more than 600,000 conventional robots installed in 2025 alone, humanoids are still a rounding error.
- The safety standard is not finished. ISO 25785-1, for industrial mobile robots with actively controlled stability (robots that need power to stay balanced and could fall without it), is still a draft at ISO. Its working group is led by a US delegation that includes the Association for Advancing Automation, Agility Robotics and Boston Dynamics. Until it is published, integrators build the safety case from existing robot and machinery standards and a site risk assessment.
None of this means humanoids will not matter. It means that in 2026 they are where cobots were around a decade ago: real, promising, and a small share of the work.
What skills do engineers need for humanoid robots?
The good news is that almost everything you need for humanoids is also what conventional robot cells need now. Learning it pays twice.
- Robot fundamentals. Coordinate frames, tool and payload data, reach and motion planning. These are the same whether the robot is bolted to the floor or walking.
- Safety. ISO 10218-1 and -2 were revised in 2025. They now make functional safety requirements explicit, include the collaborative robot content formerly in ISO/TS 15066 and add cybersecurity requirements where they affect safety. Every humanoid deployment also needs a risk assessment for the cell or area.
- ROS 2. ROS 2 is the common language of robotics research and many mobile robot stacks. Even where a humanoid vendor uses its own software, the concepts (nodes, topics, transforms between frames, navigation) carry over.
- Vision and perception. Humanoids find totes and parts with cameras. Camera calibration, object detection and pose estimation are core skills, and they are the same skills used in vision-guided picking with conventional arms.
- Integration. A humanoid moving totes still hands them to a conveyor run by a PLC and takes orders from a warehouse or manufacturing system. Handshakes, interlocks and fault recovery are integration work.
- Measurement. Every deployment above was judged on throughput, success rate, autonomy time and uptime. Engineers who can define and measure those honestly are the ones trusted to run pilots.
- Maintenance. Actuators, batteries and cabling are the wear parts, as Figure's forearm lesson shows.
A free learning route
- ROS 2 Robot Programming with Python for nodes, topics, transforms and navigation.
- Universal Robots Cobot Programming with PolyScope for working near people and collaborative safety.
- Computer Vision with OpenCV for calibration and detection.
- ABB Robot Programming with RobotStudio and RAPID for industrial robot fundamentals in a free simulator.
The industrial robotics path orders the robot courses, and free robot programming simulators explains which software to install. For the size of the conventional robot market these skills also serve, read our summary of IFR World Robotics 2026, and for working beside people, cobot training.
If your plant is planning a humanoid pilot
Ask the questions the published deployments answered:
- What is the task, and could an AMR with an arm or a conveyor do it more simply?
- What throughput, success rate and interventions per shift must it achieve to pay back?
- What is the safety case, and which standards and risk assessment does it rest on?
- How does it connect to your PLCs, WMS or MES, and who secures that network link?
- Who maintains it, what are the wear parts and how fast can you get spares?
The courses above are free in full. The optional EDWartens Certificate of Completion starts from US$2.99 and is not a vendor certification.
Take the free course
Questions
Are humanoid robots actually used in factories in 2026?
Yes, in small numbers. Agility Robotics' Digit works commercially at Schaeffler, GXO, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada and Mercado Libre. Figure's robots ran for 11 months at BMW Spartanburg. Humanoid's HMND 01 completed a trial at Siemens Erlangen and has a deployment agreement with Schaeffler. Most tasks are moving totes or loading parts.
How productive are humanoid robots compared with people?
Published figures are modest. Humanoid's Siemens trial met a target of 60 tote moves per hour with over 90% pick-and-place success. Figure's BMW deployment worked to a 37-second load time within an 84-second cycle on 10-hour shifts. Vendors argue the value is flexibility in spaces designed for people, not raw speed.
Is there a safety standard for humanoid robots?
Not a published one yet. ISO 25785-1, covering industrial mobile robots with actively controlled stability (robots that could fall if power is lost, including legged humanoids), is still a draft at ISO. Until it is published, integrators build the safety case from existing robot and machinery standards and a site risk assessment.
What skills do I need to work with humanoid robots?
Mostly the same skills as conventional robots, plus mobile robotics. Robot programming fundamentals, safety to ISO 10218 and risk assessment, ROS 2, machine vision, integration with PLCs and warehouse or MES systems, and maintenance of actuators and batteries. These also apply to the 5 million conventional robots already in service.
Should I learn humanoids instead of industrial robots?
No. Learn industrial robots first. The IFR counts 5 million conventional industrial robots in service, against humanoid fleets measured in the tens or hundreds per customer. The fundamentals transfer to humanoids, and they are what employers hire for today.
Sources
- Agility Robotics and Churchill Capital Corp XI announcement (SEC filing, 24 June 2026)
- Figure: F.02 contributed to the production of 30,000 cars at BMW
- Humanoid: Humanoid and Siemens completed a proof of concept
- Humanoid: landmark deal with Schaeffler
- Hexagon Robotics: Hexagon Robotics and Fill partner on humanoids
- i-SCOOP: ISO 25785-1 explained
- Control Design: ISO 10218 update
- IFR: Five million robots now operate in factories globally
Written by the EDWartens engineering team for general education. Product names are trademarks of their owners; mentioning them does not imply endorsement. Prices and terms of other providers were checked on the date shown and can change.
