UK-based robotics company Humanoid announced on Thursday a significant manufacturing partnership with Bosch to produce its HMND 01 humanoid robots at scale for the European market, with components supplied by Schaeffler. This strategic alliance represents a major milestone in the commercialization of humanoid robotics, bringing together an ambitious startup with one of the world’s most established industrial manufacturing powerhouses. The deal follows a successful proof of concept completed in March 2026 at Bosch’s logistics facility in Bühl, Germany, demonstrating the technology’s readiness for real-world industrial application.
The proof of concept that paved the way for this partnership centered on a practical intralogistics use case, in which HMND 01 robots autonomously transferred boxes from conveyors to trolleys within a dynamic logistics environment. The trial tested the robots’ versatility and reliability by having them handle five different box sizes across multiple footprints, heights, and varying weights. Orchestrated through KinetIQ, Humanoid’s proprietary AI framework, the demonstration successfully confirmed both the technical readiness of the platform and its potential for scalability, providing the confidence necessary to advance toward large-scale production.
Under the terms of the manufacturing agreement, Bosch will serve as Humanoid’s contract manufacturing partner while providing strategic oversight through a Design for Excellence framework. This comprehensive approach spans hardware design, production processes, supply chain management, and cost optimization, ensuring that the robots can be produced efficiently and reliably at scale. Complementing Bosch’s manufacturing role, Schaeffler, which first partnered with Humanoid in January 2026, is supplying the actuator components essential to the robots’ movement and functionality. Together, these partnerships create a robust ecosystem of expertise spanning design, components, and production.
The leadership of both companies expressed strong enthusiasm for the collaboration and its strategic significance. Artem Sokolov, Founder and CEO of Humanoid, characterized the agreement as “a critical step in our roadmap, bridging the gap between POC validation and large-scale deployment,” emphasizing the company’s commitment to “bringing humanoid robots into industrial settings” alongside Bosch as a strong strategic manufacturing partner. Peter Svejkovsky, Bosch’s Head of Corporate Intellectual Property, noted that the partnership reflects “the shared belief in the great potential of robotics in industry,” adding that Bosch’s “global production infrastructure and deep industrialisation expertise” position the company to take humanoid robots “from prototype to volume manufacturing.”
Looking toward the future, the two companies will explore integrating additional Bosch technologies, including actuators, drives, and sensors, into future versions of the HMND 01 platform. This forward-looking dimension of the partnership suggests a deepening collaboration that could yield increasingly sophisticated and capable robots over time. The prospect of incorporating Bosch’s established technological expertise into the robot’s core systems points to a long-term vision that extends well beyond the initial manufacturing arrangement.
Humanoid itself represents a remarkable example of rapid growth and ambition within the robotics sector. Founded in 2024 by Sokolov, the company now employs more than 200 engineers across offices in London, Boston, and Vancouver. The company has set itself the ambitious goal of becoming a leading general-purpose industrial humanoid robotics company within two years, a target that reflects both confidence in its technology and the accelerating pace of development in the field. The partnership with Bosch and Schaeffler provides Humanoid with the manufacturing capabilities and industrial credibility necessary to pursue this aggressive timeline.
This deal also adds to a broader wave of partnerships sweeping through the humanoid robotics sector, signaling intensifying activity and investment across the industry. Schaeffler alone has signed three humanoid actuator partnerships in recent months, including agreements with Neura Robotics and Hexagon Robotics, illustrating the growing demand for specialized components as more companies enter the humanoid robotics space. This flurry of collaboration suggests that the industry is entering a critical phase of maturation, with established industrial players and innovative startups alike recognizing the substantial commercial potential of humanoid robots. As Humanoid, Bosch, and Schaeffler advance their partnership, their combined efforts may well help define the trajectory of industrial humanoid robotics in Europe and beyond, bringing the long-anticipated promise of versatile, general-purpose robots closer to widespread reality.
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