The humanoid robotics has reached a new milestone on the Old Continent. The British startup Humanoid has just sealed a deal with the German giant Bosch. The goal: to move from the prototype to the mass production of the HMND 01 robot, designed to handle logistics and production tasks in European factories.
An agreement that goes beyond assembly
Bosch will not only assemble the robots on chains. The group brings its expertise in industrial optimization, supply chain management, cost reduction, and long-term reliability. This partnership is part of a approach called Design for Excellence, which aims to design machines that are not only performance-oriented, easy to maintain, but also economically viable for end customers. A real-life test was conducted last March at a Bosch logistics site in Buhl, Germany, validating the concept: the robots autonomously moved boxes of various sizes, heights, and weights between a conveyor and a cart, demonstrating their ability to integrate into a real and complex industrial flow.
Two versions adapted to the needs of the field
The HMND 01 platform comes in two configurations. The bipedal version, standing 1.78 meters high and weighing 90 kg, reaches 1.5 meters per second in walking speed and has about three hours of autonomy. The wheeled variant measures 2.20 meters, weighs 300 kg, rolls up to 2 meters per second, and offers four hours of independence. Both models can carry up to 15 kg of payload. Their “brain” is based on KinetIQ, the artificial intelligence system developed in-house by Humanoid: it analyzes the environment, recognizes objects, autonomously plans movements while enabling the coordination of an entire fleet of robots, whether bipedal or wheeled.
Europe positions itself in the global race
Following the announcements from Figure in the United States or Tesla, this agreement confirms that humanoid robotics is entering an industrial phase in Europe as well. The company Humanoid, founded in 2024 in London, is also collaborating with leading industrial players such as Schaeffler and Siemens. In a context of labor shortage and the continent’s reindustrialization, these humanoid machines could become a strategic tool for European production chains, capable of adapting to existing environments without major factory restructuring.
