Agile Robots SE
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Last reviewed
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Agile Robots SE (formerly Agile Robots AG) is a German robotics company headquartered in Munich, Germany, specializing in AI-powered robotic automation solutions. Founded in 2018 as a spin-off of the German Aerospace Center (DLR) Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, the company develops force-sensitive collaborative robots (cobots), autonomous mobile robots, and humanoid robots for industrial applications. Agile Robots is best known for its Diana series of lightweight cobots and the Agile One industrial humanoid robot unveiled in November 2025.[1][2]
The company employs more than 2,500 people from roughly 60 countries, with production sites in Bavaria, China, and India. Revenue reportedly doubled year-on-year since founding, reaching approximately 200 million euros in 2024. In 2021 Agile Robots became the first German robotics unicorn after raising a Series C round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2. The stated medium-term goal is to exceed one billion euros in annual revenue.[3][4]
Agile Robots was founded in 2018 by Dr. Zhaopeng Chen and Peter Meusel, both long-time researchers at the DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics. The founding team also included eight additional DLR experts with backgrounds in torque-controlled robotics, impedance control, and dexterous manipulation. They built the company to bridge artificial intelligence and robotics, targeting complex industrial and medical tasks that conventional automation could not handle reliably.[1][2]
The first product, the Diana 7, was a seven-axis collaborative arm with torque sensors in every joint. It was designed for delicate assembly and was quickly deployed in Chinese consumer electronics plants to install components in smartphones, tablets, and PCs. Early growth in China was helped by a Beijing branch and partnerships with electronics manufacturers.[5][6]
In September 2021 Agile Robots closed a 220 million dollar Series C round led by SoftBank Vision Fund 2, with participation from Chimera Investments (Abu Dhabi Royal Group), Hillhouse, GL Ventures, Sequoia China, Linear Capital, Xiaomi Group, Foxconn Industrial Internet, and Midas. The round pushed the valuation above one billion dollars, making Agile Robots the first German robotics unicorn and SoftBank Vision Fund 2's first intelligent robotics investment in China.[7][8]
In 2022 the company opened its first German production plant in Kaufbeuren, Bavaria, on a 2,700 square meter site assembling the Yu 5 Industrial cobot. The site was planned to scale to 2,500 robots per year, with close communication between production and the Munich R&D team.[9]
Acquisitions accelerated from 2023. Agile Robots took a majority stake in BÄR Automation (custom assembly lines), integrated Franka Robotics (formerly Franka Emika), and made an initial investment in idealworks, a BMW Group spin-off building AMRs for intralogistics. Full ownership of idealworks was completed in September 2025.[10][11]
In 2024 production was established in Chennai, India, the Munich-Sendling laboratory was expanded to roughly 10,000 square meters, and German R&D spend exceeded 80 million euros that year.[12]
In March 2025 Agile Robots acquired a majority stake in audEERING, a Munich-area firm spun out of the Technical University of Munich in 2012 that specializes in AI voice analysis. The deal targeted better human-robot interaction and voice-driven programming.[13]
On November 19, 2025, the company unveiled Agile One, its first humanoid robot built for industrial use, with mass production planned in Bavaria from early 2026.[14][15] One week later, on November 26, 2025, Agile Robots announced the acquisition of large parts of thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering across Europe and North America, adding about 650 experts and ten locations. The acquired business reverted to its historic 1950 name, Krause Automation, operating as a subsidiary inside the Agile Robots Group.[16][17]
On February 4, 2026, an Agile One pressed the start button to switch on the Industrial AI Cloud, a Deutsche Telekom and NVIDIA project in Munich that Agile Robots had joined as an anchor customer. The 10,000 GPU facility, with combined investment around one billion euros, became one of the largest industrial AI factories in Europe.[18][19]
Agile Robots offers four main product families: stationary cobots, mobile robots, humanoids, and the AgileCore control software that runs across all of them.
The Diana 7 is the company's flagship collaborative arm and the product that established its reputation in force-sensitive manipulation.
| Specification | Diana 7 |
|---|---|
| Axes (degrees of freedom) | 7 |
| Payload | 7 kg |
| Reach | 923 mm |
| Repeatability | plus or minus 0.05 mm |
| Force control accuracy | 0.5 N |
| Torque sensors | All 7 axes |
| Base diameter | 190 mm |
| Weight | approximately 17 kg |
| Operating temperature | 0 to 50 degrees Celsius |
| Protection rating | IP54 |
The Diana 7 combines joint torque sensing with vision and impedance control. It is deployed in automotive and consumer electronics (3C) plants for high-precision assembly such as connector insertion, polishing, and screwing.[5][6]
The Yu 5 Industrial is a vision-equipped cobot manufactured in Kaufbeuren since 2022, positioned as a price-competitive workhorse for small and medium manufacturers.
| Specification | Yu 5 Industrial |
|---|---|
| Payload | 5 kg (up to 7 kg at 850 mm reach) |
| Reach | up to 1,000 mm |
| Repeatability | plus or minus 0.05 mm |
| Vision | integrated camera with autonomous detection and grasping |
| Use cases | pick-and-place, machine tending, assembly, packaging |
The integrated camera lets the Yu 5 detect, approach, and grasp objects without external vision modules, reducing setup time on factory floors.[9][20]
The Thor series targets heavier industrial duty cycles and is offered in four payload classes.
| Model | Payload | Reach | Typical applications |
|---|---|---|---|
| Thor 3 | 3 kg | smaller envelope | precision assembly, electronics |
| Thor 7 | 7 kg | medium reach | general purpose handling |
| Thor 12 | 12 kg | 1,300 mm | heavier assembly, machine tending |
| Thor 20 | 20 kg | up to 1,700 mm | palletizing, loading and unloading |
Thor robots share the AgileCore stack with Diana and Yu, letting customers mix sizes in one cell while reusing the same teach pendant and skills library.[20]
Through its idealworks and BÄR Automation subsidiaries, Agile Robots produces autonomous mobile robots (AMRs) and automated guided vehicles (AGVs) such as iw.hub for automotive intralogistics. The group also builds mobile manipulators that place a Diana 7 or Yu 5 arm on top of a mobile base. The jointly developed ConTrax Module One pairs a cobot with an AGV and a wireless charging station, letting the manipulator follow components through a plant.[10][20]
The Agile One is a full-size bipedal humanoid built for industrial environments. It was unveiled on November 19, 2025, with series production planned to start in early 2026 at the company's Bavarian facility.
| Specification | Agile One |
|---|---|
| Hands | five-fingered, with embedded force sensing and fingertip tactile sensing |
| Sensors | proximity sensors, rear-view camera, eye rings, chest display |
| Target applications | material handling, pick-and-place, machine tending, tool use, fine manipulation |
| AI architecture | three layers: strategic planning, dynamic action execution, low-level fine manipulation |
| Training data | teleoperation field data, physical simulation, video and image sources |
| Manufacturing | Bavaria, Germany; motors, actuators, and control systems designed in Germany |
| Production start | early 2026 |
CEO Zhaopeng Chen described the robot as able to "manipulate a tiny screw, operate a power tool, or touch a screen," with control split between "slow thinking" planning and "fast thinking" action layers. Unlike many humanoid robots produced in Asia, Agile One is manufactured entirely in Germany.[14][15]
AgileCore is the robot operating system and skills platform, used across cobots, mobile robots, and the Agile One humanoid. It exposes a common programming interface, lets users move skills between robots, and connects to the foundation model trained on the Industrial AI Cloud. Voice-driven programming uses audEERING acoustic analysis to interpret operator commands.[13][18]
Core technology derives from decades of DLR research in force-sensitive robotics. Key technical capabilities:
The combination of real production data with simulation is intended to let robots adapt to a new task in hours rather than weeks, a target Agile Robots contrasts with rivals relying mostly on synthetic data.[18]
| Metric | Details |
|---|---|
| Founding year | 2018 |
| Headquarters | Munich, Germany |
| Total funding raised | approximately 384 million dollars |
| Series C amount | 220 million dollars (September 2021) |
| Series C lead | SoftBank Vision Fund 2 |
| Notable Series C investors | Chimera Investments, Hillhouse, GL Ventures, Sequoia China, Linear Capital, Xiaomi, Foxconn Industrial Internet, Midas |
| Valuation | over 1 billion dollars (unicorn since 2021) |
| Annual revenue (2024) | approximately 200 million euros |
| German R&D spend (2024) | over 80 million euros |
| Employees | over 2,500 (plus around 650 added via Krause Automation) |
| Countries represented in workforce | approximately 60 |
| Munich lab footprint | approximately 10,000 square meters |
Series C proceeds funded product development, mass production, and global sales expansion. Crunchbase data put total raised at 240 million dollars across pre-A, B, and C rounds; later rounds pushed the cumulative figure to roughly 384 million dollars.[7][8]
| Site | Role |
|---|---|
| Munich, Germany | global HQ, R&D, foundation model team |
| Kaufbeuren, Bavaria | Yu 5 Industrial and Franka cobot production |
| New Bavarian plant | Agile One humanoid production from early 2026 |
| Beijing, China | China HQ and sales |
| Chinese production facility | Diana 7 production for the 3C market |
| Chennai, India | production opened 2024 |
| Krause Automation sites | approximately 10 sites across Europe and North America added in 2025 |
The Munich-Sendling lab was expanded to roughly 10,000 square meters to support the foundation model program and Agile One development. Kaufbeuren was originally planned to ramp to about 2,500 robots per year with roughly 60 additional engineers and technicians.[9][12]
Agile Robots has built its portfolio through both organic development and a series of acquisitions, most concentrated in 2023 to 2025.
| Year | Entity | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | BÄR Automation | majority acquisition | German specialist in custom-engineered assembly systems |
| 2023 | Franka Robotics (formerly Franka Emika) | integration | Munich-based maker of torque-controlled research cobots |
| 2023, completed 2025 | idealworks | full acquisition | BMW Group spin-off for AMRs in intralogistics; 100 percent owned by September 2025 |
| 2024 | Chennai production | greenfield site | India manufacturing for regional supply |
| March 2025 | audEERING | majority acquisition | AI voice and audio analysis; TU Munich spin-out from 2012 |
| November 2025 | thyssenkrupp Automation Engineering | acquisition | rebranded as Krause Automation; about 650 experts and ten new sites in Europe and North America |
Key commercial partnerships include:
| Year | Partner | Focus |
|---|---|---|
| 2024, ongoing | NVIDIA | Omniverse integration, simulation, Industrial AI Cloud GPU access |
| 2025 | Bharat Forge (India) | MoU to co-develop AI-driven automation and "dark factory" deployments in India and Southeast Asia |
| 2025 to 2026 | Deutsche Telekom and NVIDIA | anchor customer of the Industrial AI Cloud in Munich (10,000 GPUs, around one billion euros invested) |
The Bharat Forge MoU, signed in early 2025, scopes co-development across automotive, healthcare, and consumer electronics, including vision and AI-based robotic systems intended to enable fully autonomous "dark" factories. It is restricted to civilian industry.[21]
The Industrial AI Cloud partnership launched in Berlin on November 4, 2025, with Federal Digital Minister Karsten Wildberger in attendance. On February 4, 2026, an Agile One humanoid pressed the start button to power up the facility, which Agile Robots uses to train its industrial robotics foundation model. The wider Industrial AI Cloud ecosystem also includes Siemens, Wandelbots, Quantum Systems, PhysicsX, and Perplexity.[18][19]
| Person | Role |
|---|---|
| Dr. Zhaopeng Chen | Co-founder and CEO |
| Peter Meusel | Co-founder, Co-CEO, Managing Director, Board Member |
Both founders are former senior DLR researchers in torque-controlled robotics and dexterous manipulation. Chen has argued that the company's edge over US and Chinese rivals is real production data from more than 20,000 installations plus a stack spanning joint torque sensors to foundation models.[1][18]