Hexagon Is Putting 1,000 Humanoid Robots In Schaeffler Factories. This Is Not A Copy-Paste Process

Hold onto your hats, folks, because the future of factories is rolling in – quite literally! German motion technology company Schaeffler has made a massive commitment to deploy a whopping 1,000 Hexagon Robotics Aeon humanoid robots across its global factories by 2032. This isn’t just a pilot; this is a full-blown robot revolution! These aren’t your typical fixed-arm factory bots either.

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1,000 humanoid robots. 1 factory.

What does it actually take to put 1,000 humanoid robots to work? Hexagon Robotics President Arnaud Robert joins me to explain how the company is moving its Aeon humanoid from pilots and demonstrations into real industrial production, including a plan with Schaeffler that could eventually scale to 1,000 robots. And the big lesson is that scaling humanoids isn't about taking one robot doing one task and multiplying it by 1,000.

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Humanoid Robots Are Leaving Safety Cages. Proving Actual Safety Is Harder

Okay, so you know how sci-fi movies always show robots just chilling with people, no big deal? Well, apparently, we're getting really close to that becoming a reality! John Koetsier's latest Forbes piece dropped a bombshell: humanoid robots are about to break free from their safety cages within the next 18 months. Companies like Agility Robotics, Boston Dynamics, and 1X are already lining up massive pre-orders for robots designed to work right alongside us.

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Agility Robotics Wants To Make 500 Humanoid Robots Safe, Not Just One

Imagine a future where robots aren’t just tucked away behind safety barriers, but are working right beside you, helping out with tasks. That’s the exciting vision Agility Robotics is bringing to life with their next-gen humanoid, Digit 5, designed to operate without a safety cage. It’s a game-changer! But as awesome as one robot working freely sounds, what happens when you have an entire fleet of these humanoids roaming a busy factory floor or warehouse?

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This $3,555 Humanoid Robot Is Slow, Basic, Cheap. Mission Accomplished.

Meet Flourish 1, a new home robot that just stepped out of stealth mode, and it's surprisingly basic – but that's entirely the point! This San Francisco startup has cooked up a bot that costs just $3,555, can learn a new chore in about 30 minutes, and lifts a modest 3.3 pounds. It's not winning any beauty contests with its "chopped-off garbage can with wheels" base, but its cute hat and fresh colors give it some charm.

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AI Eating The World? Sima.ai Is Selling Teeth … And Raised $150 Million To Sharpen Them

Sima.ai is making some serious noise in the AI hardware world, and they just snagged a cool $150 million in Series C funding, pushing their valuation to $1.45 billion and total funding to a whopping $500 million! Why all the excitement? Well, as one expert puts it, if AI is going to "eat the world," then hardware is definitely its "teeth." Sima.ai is right there, selling those teeth in the form of specialized physical AI chips designed to power everything from advanced drones and self-driving cars to the next generation of robots, including humanoids – all rapidly growing industries.

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Humanoid Robot Shipments Jump 432%, China Has 95% Market Share

Get ready for more robots! According to fresh data from IDC, humanoid robot shipments absolutely skyrocketed in the first half of 2026, jumping a mind-boggling 432% to nearly 25,000 units. This isn't just about more robots; revenue also shot up, topping $740 million, indicating that the industry is rapidly scaling up. Good news for those dreaming of robot assistants: this growth spurt means these impressive machines are becoming more affordable, with the average price dropping from around $37,000 to just under $30,000 per robot in a single year!

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AI Eating The World? Sima.ai Is Selling Teeth … And Raised $150 Million To Sharpen Them

Alright tech enthusiasts, let’s talk about the future, specifically the one that walks, flies, and drives itself. We’re diving into Sima.ai, a company that’s not just dreaming about robots, but actually building the brains for them. This seven-year-old startup just snagged a cool $150 million, bumping their total funding to a whopping half a billion dollars and valuing them at an impressive $1.45 billion.

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Feather Launches $29,990 Humanoid Robot. Small Teams Are Rewriting The Economics Of Humanoids

Hold onto your hats, because a new player just rolled onto the robotics scene, and they’re shaking things up big time. California-based Feather Robotics has emerged from stealth with a $29,990 vaguely humanoid robot on wheels, and get this – they’ve already pulled in over a million dollars in actual revenue before their official launch, alongside a cool $7.6 million in pre-seed funding.

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This Open Source Software Fixes Herky-Jerky Humanoid Robots, Kind Of By Copying Humans

Ever notice how some robots move like they’re having a really bad internet day, all shaky and stop-start? It’s not just a quirk; it’s a fundamental problem. Turns out, the super-smart AI brains driving these robots, like the fancy vision-language-action models, spit out commands way slower than what the robot’s motors actually need. Imagine a conductor giving cues 10 times a minute when the orchestra needs them 1000 times a minute – pure chaos!

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People Don’t Want Humanoid Robots … Until This Happens

Ever wonder how people really feel about humanoid robots? Turns out, most of us aren’t exactly lining up for a robot roommate. A new survey found a whopping 78% of folks are pretty negative about human-like bots, with concerns ranging from job loss to, well, just feeling unsafe around them. It seems the idea of a bipedal buddy wandering around our homes or workplaces still gives many of us the creeps, putting the overall vibe around humanoids pretty low.

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Feather Launches $29,990 Humanoid Robot. Small Teams Are Rewriting The Economics Of Humanoids

Ever imagined getting your hands on a capable humanoid robot without breaking the bank? A new California startup, Feather Robotics, is making waves with the launch of its bimanual mobile manipulator, priced at a surprisingly accessible $29,990. This isn't just another concept; the company has already pulled in over $1 million in revenue from early sales, all while still in its pre-seed funding stage.

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This Open Source Software Fixes Herky-Jerky Humanoid Robots, Kind Of By Copying Humans

Ever watched a robot move and thought, "Wow, that looks like it’s buffering"? You’re not alone. Humanoid robots, in particular, often have this jerky, almost-stalling vibe, making them feel like something out of an old sci-fi flick or a really laggy video. It turns out, there’s a fundamental mismatch happening under the hood: the super-smart AI brains running these robots are a lot slower than their super-fast physical bodies need them to be.

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People Don’t Want Humanoid Robots … Until This Happens

Ever wonder if people are ready for a world full of humanoid robots? Well, a new Forbes survey spills the tea, and it turns out most folks aren’t exactly rolling out the welcome mat. A whopping 78% of people are straight-up detractors, seeing these mechanical marvels as more threatening than helpful, and definitely not essential. Concerns about safety and job loss are top of mind, making the idea of a robot assistant feel less like a futuristic dream and more like a potential nightmare for many.

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Google Is Giving Away ‘The Android Of Robotics’

Hey robotics enthusiasts, get ready for some game-changing news from Google! Their industrial robotics arm, Intrinsic, is throwing open the doors to the very core of its platform. We’re talking about essential software like control, motion planning, simulation, and even how robots grasp things – all previously proprietary, now freely available under an Apache 2.0 license. It’s called Intrinsic Core, and it’s built to be super compatible with ROS, the open-source standard most of the robotics world uses.

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He runs 100s of AI agents … here’s how

What does it actually look like to work with hundreds of AI agents? In this episode of NEXT with John Koetsier, I chat with Steve Ancheta, founder and CEO of Zig.ai, an AI-native platform for relationship-driven sales. Steve explains why what looks like a single AI agent to a user can actually be a swarm of hundreds of specialized agents working behind the scenes, handling copywriting, follow-ups, CRM updates, next-best actions, orchestration, and more.

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Google Is Giving Away ‘The Android Of Robotics’

Hey, you gotta check out this wild Forbes article I just read! It talks about how Google is making a massive move in the robotics world, and get this: they're essentially giving away the core of their industrial robotics platform, called Intrinsic Core. Sundar Pichai himself apparently dubbed it the "Android of robotics," which, if you think about it, makes total sense.

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Faraday Future Launches 5 New Robots: $9,990 To $137,900 For An Industrial Humanoid

Hey, you've gotta check out this article I just read on Forbes about Faraday Future – you know, the EV company? Well, apparently, they're not just doing cars anymore, they've gone full sci-fi and launched a whole fleet of new robots! We're talking five distinct lines, nine different configurations, and prices ranging from a super affordable $9,990 for a little hip-high humanoid perfect for classrooms or robot soccer, all the way up to a whopping $137,900 for an industrial behemoth that can walk into places you definitely wouldn't want to send a human.

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3 American Humanoid Robot Companies To Invest In: RoboStrategy CEO

Hey, you've gotta check out this Forbes article I just read! It's all about humanoid robots, and it gives the lowdown from a guy named Andrew Kang, who runs a Nasdaq fund that only invests in robot companies before they go public. So, basically, he's the expert on who's actually going to make it big. He says there are over a hundred humanoid robot companies in the US, but when you ask him which ones are truly going to deliver, his list is super short: Tesla Optimus, Figure AI, and Apptronik.

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Figure’s Billion-Dollar Physical AI Bet Delivered A 6X Jump In Robot Chore Success

Remember that company, Figure, who decided to shell out a billion dollars over the next year, literally paying people to film themselves doing chores like folding laundry? Well, just one month into that ambitious plan, their investment is already paying off in a huge way. Their humanoid robot just saw its success rate for household tasks jump by an incredible 6X – from a modest 9% to a much more impressive 56%!

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Faraday Future Launches 5 New Robots: $9,990 To $137,900 For An Industrial Humanoid

Faraday Future just rolled out a whole new fleet of robots, and they're not messing around. We're talking everything from a cute, hip-high buddy designed for classrooms and robot soccer to a seriously tough, industrial-grade machine that can brave places you'd rather not send a human. With prices stretching from a cool $9,990 all the way up to $137,900, it's clear they've got a bot for almost any job you can imagine, expanding their catalog to a whopping 24 products across different forms and series.

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3 American Humanoid Robot Companies To Invest In: RoboStrategy CEO

Ever wondered which robot companies are actually on the fast track to success? Andrew Kang, who literally runs a Nasdaq-listed fund dedicated to owning robot companies before they go public, has a surprisingly short list for American humanoid robot startups: Tesla Optimus, Figure AI, and Apptronik. Out of 112 companies in the US humanoid space, only these three truly stand out to him.

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Sanctuary AI Built A Robot Body. Now It’s Also Selling A Robot Brain

Hey everyone! I just dropped a new article on Forbes about Sanctuary AI, and it's got some pretty fascinating insights into where robotics is headed. You know Sanctuary AI for their super cool humanoid robot, Phoenix, right? Well, it turns out they've been up to something a little different lately, and it's seriously smart. Imagine a task so fiddly and precise that traditional robots just can't hack it – like plugging flexible wires into moving targets on an automotive assembly line.

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Only 6% Of Companies Get Value From AI. Here’s What They Do Differently

Ever feel like everyone's jumping on the AI bandwagon, but you're not quite sure where it's leading? Well, you're not alone! A recent HubSpot survey spilled the tea, revealing that a whopping 90% of companies are indeed using AI. That's a huge number! But here's the kicker: only a tiny 6% are actually seeing truly transformational results. Yeah, you read that right.

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Agility Launches Digit 5: No More Safety Cages, $300 Million In Orders

Ever wondered why you don't see humanoid robots walking around your workplace or warehouse just yet? It's not because they lack brains or dexterity. Believe it or not, the single biggest thing keeping these futuristic workers from real jobs is surprisingly simple: a safety fence! Up until now, most working humanoids have been stuck in isolation, separated from us 'fragile meatbag humans' for safety reasons.

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Construction Robots Just Took A Giant Leap Forward: Hello Holy Grail Of Robotics

Construction and robotics? It's often felt like a classic "Moby Dick" scenario – a huge, elusive challenge that's swallowed many an ambitious project. For years, the construction site has been a graveyard for robots, mostly because the real world is messy and unpredictable, unlike a factory floor. But hold onto your hard hats, because a new San Jose startup called Zinova, a spinoff from RIC Robotics, might just have cracked the code.

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