Humanoid (company)
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| Humanoid | |
|---|---|
| General information | |
| Legal name | SKL Robotics Ltd |
| Trading name | Humanoid |
| Founded | May 2024 |
| Founder | Artem Sokolov |
| Headquarters | London, United Kingdom |
| Other offices | Boston (United States), Vancouver (Canada) |
| Industry | Robotics, Artificial intelligence |
| Products | HMND 01 (Alpha Wheeled), HMND 01 Alpha Bipedal |
| AI framework | KinetIQ |
| Key people | Artem Sokolov (CEO), Jarad Cannon (CTO), Sotirios Stasinopoulos (CPO), Thomas Shepherd (COO) |
| Employees | 200+ (as of early 2026) |
| Funding | $50 million (founder-led) |
| Pre-orders | 20,500+ |
| Website | thehumanoid.ai |
Humanoid (legally registered as SKL Robotics Ltd) is a United Kingdom-based robotics and artificial intelligence company that designs, develops, and deploys modular humanoid robots for industrial automation. Founded in May 2024 by serial entrepreneur Artem Sokolov, the company is headquartered in London with additional offices in Boston and Vancouver. Humanoid builds the HMND 01, a modular platform available as the Alpha Wheeled (omnidirectional wheeled base) and Alpha Bipedal (bipedal legs). Both variants share the same upper body and run on the company's proprietary KinetIQ AI framework.[1]
Humanoid is backed by approximately $50 million in founder-led capital and, as of early 2026, employs more than 200 engineers and specialists recruited from companies including Apple, Tesla, Google, Boston Dynamics, Sanctuary AI, iRobot, Brain Corp, Ocado Technology, Dyson Robotics, Arrival, and NVIDIA.[2] The company has completed multiple proof-of-concept deployments with Schaeffler, Siemens, Ford, SAP, and Martur Fompak, announced a five-year technology partnership with Schaeffler in January 2026, and demonstrated voice-activated multi-robot collaboration at NVIDIA GTC 2026. It reports more than 20,500 pre-orders for its HMND 01 platform.[3] A companion long-form treatment is maintained at Humanoid AI.
Humanoid was founded in May 2024 by Artem Sokolov, a Russian-born entrepreneur and former CEO of SOKOLOV, a Russian jewelry company he grew to 68.1 billion rubles in GMV and 1,000+ stores after taking over from his parents in 2014. In August 2025, at age 32, he sold 100% of SOKOLOV to private investor Anton Pak through Aspring Capital.[4][5]
Sokolov has described his motivation for founding Humanoid as personal: watching his grandparents perform repetitive tasks in jewelry production made him determined to build machines that could free people from routine labor. He holds an Executive Certificate in AI from IMD (Switzerland) and was named EY Entrepreneur of the Year in 2021.[6][7] The company registered as SKL Robotics Ltd in the United Kingdom and established its headquarters in London. From the outset, Sokolov emphasized a practical, market-ready approach, targeting industrial applications rather than general-purpose consumer robotics.[8]
In May 2025, Humanoid appointed Jarad Cannon as Chief Technology Officer. Cannon previously served as CTO at Brain Corp, scaling the company from 5 to over 40,000 deployed robots, and spent six years at iRobot before that. He joined alongside existing CTO Dmitrii Rudnitckii, who became VP of Robotic Platform and Applications.[9]
In September 2025, Humanoid unveiled the HMND 01 Alpha Wheeled, described as the United Kingdom's first humanoid robot designed for industrial use. The wheeled variant was developed from concept to working prototype in seven months using a simulation-first approach with NVIDIA Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab, compressing a development cycle that typically takes 18 to 24 months for comparable humanoid platforms.[10]
The Alpha Wheeled stands 220 cm (7 ft 3 in) tall, weighs 300 kg, and reaches speeds up to 2 m/s. It has 29 active degrees of freedom (excluding end-effectors), 15 kg bimanual payload, and roughly four hours of runtime.[11]
In October 2025, Humanoid completed its first major proof-of-concept deployment with Schaeffler in Erlangen, Germany. A pre-alpha HMND 01 robot performed bin picking of metallic bearing rings in cluttered industrial conditions. Humanoid built a physical replica of the workstation in its lab and used teleoperation with leader arms to gather training data for a pre-trained Vision-Language-Action (VLA) model. Both companies reported that results fully met expectations.[12]
On December 2, 2025, Humanoid announced the HMND 01 Alpha Bipedal, built from initial design to working prototype in five months. The bipedal variant achieved stable walking just 48 hours after final assembly. This rapid simulation-to-real transfer was enabled by 52.5 million seconds of reinforcement learning locomotion data (roughly 19 months of continuous training) generated in only two days using NVIDIA Isaac Sim and Isaac Lab.[13][14]
The Alpha Bipedal stands 179 cm (5 ft 10 in) tall and weighs 90 kg. It shares the 29-DOF upper body with the wheeled variant, enabling direct skill transfer. As of early 2026, the bipedal variant primarily serves as an R&D platform for future service and household applications.[15]
The HMND 01 made its North American debut at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) 2026 in Las Vegas (January 6 to 9, 2026). The Alpha Wheeled performed a live autonomous bin picking demonstration, highlighting the robot's computer vision and manipulation capabilities, while the Alpha Bipedal was also displayed. At CES, Humanoid and Schaeffler formally signed their five-year strategic technology partnership.[16]
On January 13, 2026, Humanoid and Schaeffler Technologies AG announced a five-year strategic technology partnership. Schaeffler became the preferred supplier of strain wave gear actuators for Humanoid's wheeled robot platforms, used primarily in the upper body, shoulders, and arms of the HMND 01. Under the purchase agreement, Schaeffler plans to integrate several hundred humanoid robots into its global production network over five years, with beta-stage deployments scheduled for 2026 and 2027. Deployments will follow the RaaS model in the gamma phase.[17]
In January 2026, Humanoid and Siemens completed a two-week proof-of-concept deployment at the Siemens Electronics Factory in Erlangen, Germany. The HMND 01 Alpha Wheeled autonomously executed a tote-to-conveyor destacking task, removing totes from stacked storage, transporting them across the facility, and placing them on a conveyor for human workers.[18]
| Metric | Result |
|---|---|
| Throughput | 60 tote moves per hour |
| Tote sizes handled | 2 different sizes |
| Continuous autonomous operation | 30+ minutes per stretch |
| Daily uptime | 8+ hours |
| Pick-and-place success rate | >90% |
Following the trial, both companies indicated that a wider rollout deploying larger numbers of humanoid robots across Siemens facilities could follow, pending further capability demonstrations.[19]
Over six weeks in early 2026, Humanoid deployed the HMND 01 Alpha Wheeled at the Ford Innovation Centre in Cologne, Germany. The trial tested two automotive workflows: tote handling for kitting operations and dual-arm manipulation of large metal car body parts.[20]
| Metric | Result | Target |
|---|---|---|
| Pick-and-place throughput | 83 units per hour | 50 units per hour |
| Continuous uninterrupted operation | 1 hour | 30 minutes |
| Fully autonomous reliability | 97% | n/a |
| On-site data collection for model training | 1 hour | n/a |
The robot exceeded all targets, achieving 66% higher throughput and twice the targeted continuous operation duration. Humanoid and Ford Cologne announced plans to explore production deployments.[21]
From January to February 2026, Humanoid completed a proof of concept with SAP and Martur Fompak, a Turkish automotive parts supplier, in a live production logistics environment. The trial marked the first time the HMND 01 was controlled by an external enterprise system in production. The robot received task instructions from the SAP AI agent through the SAP Joule agent layer, autonomously navigated to designated pallet locations, retrieved KLT (Kleinladungstrager) boxes, and delivered them to trolleys. SAP Extended Warehouse Management sent tasks to the robot over the internet without requiring a custom local control system.[22][23]
In early 2026, Humanoid publicly introduced KinetIQ, its proprietary AI framework for orchestration of humanoid robot fleets. The four-layer architecture spans fleet-level task allocation down to millisecond-level joint control, positioning Humanoid as both a hardware manufacturer and AI software platform.[24]
At NVIDIA GTC in San Jose on March 20, 2026, Humanoid presented a live demonstration of voice-activated multi-robot collaboration powered by KinetIQ. Two wheeled HMND 01 robots with grippers operated in a simulated retail environment, with booth visitors issuing voice commands. KinetIQ interpreted the requests, allocated tasks between the robots, and coordinated physical handovers between them.[25]
Artem Sokolov is the founder and CEO of Humanoid. Born in Krasnoye-na-Volge, Kostroma Oblast, Russia, he comes from a third-generation jewelry-making family. He took over his parents' business at age 21 and built it into one of Russia's largest jewelry brands by sales volume.[4]
| Detail | Information |
|---|---|
| Role | Founder and CEO |
| Nationality | Russian |
| Previous role | CEO, SOKOLOV (jewelry, 2014 to 2025) |
| Education | Executive Certificate in AI, IMD (Switzerland) |
| Awards | EY Entrepreneur of the Year (2021) |
| Venture capital | Founder, general partner, SKL.vc |
Sokolov's experience scaling a consumer products company with over 7,000 employees has shaped his approach to production, supply chain management, and market-ready product development at Humanoid.[6]
Humanoid has assembled a leadership team with experience across robotics, AI, consumer technology, and manufacturing operations.
| Name | Title | Background |
|---|---|---|
| Artem Sokolov | CEO and Founder | Former CEO of SOKOLOV jewelry; EY Entrepreneur of the Year 2021 |
| Jarad Cannon | Chief Technology Officer | Former CTO at Brain Corp (5 to 40,000 deployed robots); 6 years at iRobot |
| Sotirios Stasinopoulos | Chief Product Officer | 18+ years in robotics/AI; former Product Director at UBTECH Robotics; Ph.D. from Tsinghua University |
| Alina Kolpakova | Chief Strategy Officer | Former SOKOLOV executive; MBA, IE Business School |
| Jochen Rudat | Chief Growth and Revenue Officer | 10+ years at Tesla; helped scale European operations |
| Thomas Shepherd | Chief Operations Officer | 15+ years in advanced manufacturing; led operational transformation at Arrival |
| Boris Yangel | Head of AI | 17+ years in ML/DL; former Head of AI at Nebius |
| Dmitrii Rudnitckii | VP, Robotic Platform and Applications | 25+ years in robotics; previously at Arrival and Nokia |
| Todd Lewis | Head of Systems Engineering | 35 years in product design; former VP Hardware at Agility Robotics |
| Hessam Maleki | Head of Locomanipulation | Former Director of R&D Programs at Sanctuary AI |
| The broader team draws from organizations including Boston Dynamics, Tesla, Agility Robotics, Sanctuary AI, iRobot, Brain Corp, Ocado Technology, Dyson Robotics, Arrival, Apple, Google, and NVIDIA.[2][26] |
The HMND 01 is Humanoid's modular humanoid robot platform, built around a shared upper body that pairs with different lower-body configurations. Customers can select the mobility solution best suited to their environment while keeping manipulation, sensors, and AI software compatible. Skills transfer between variants with minimal retraining.[27]
| Specification | Alpha Wheeled | Alpha Bipedal |
|---|---|---|
| Height | 220 cm (7 ft 3 in) | 179 cm (5 ft 10 in) |
| Weight | 300 kg (661 lb) | 90 kg (198 lb) |
| Locomotion | Omnidirectional wheels | Bipedal legs |
| Max speed | 2 m/s | 1.5 m/s |
| Degrees of freedom | 29 (excl. end-effectors) | 29 (excl. end-effectors) |
| Bimanual payload | 15 kg (33 lb) | 15 kg (33 lb) |
| Runtime | 4 hours | 3 hours |
| Vertical reach | Floor to 2 m | Floor to ~1.8 m |
| Processors | NVIDIA Jetson Thor | Jetson Orin AGX + Intel i9 |
| End-effectors | 12-DOF hand or 1-DOF gripper | 12-DOF hand or 1-DOF gripper |
| Battery | Swappable | Swappable |
| Development time | 7 months | 5 months |
| Unveiled | September 2025 | December 2025 |
| Target price | $50,000 to $70,000 | ~$120,000 |
Both variants use modular end-effectors that can be swapped between a 12-DOF dexterous five-fingered hand and a 1-DOF parallel gripper. A distinctive design feature is the use of interchangeable protective garments, which minimize contamination risks, cushion potential contacts in shared workspaces, and provide customizable appearance.[27]
Humanoid follows a structured three-phase product development roadmap.
| Phase | Description | Timeline |
|---|---|---|
| Alpha | Prototype and proof-of-concept testing with commercial partners | 2025 to early 2026 |
| Beta | Pre-production validation, broader commercial pilot deployments | Q3 2026 (Wheeled); late 2026 (Bipedal) |
| Gamma | Scaled production and commercial deployment under RaaS model | 2027+ |
Alpha-phase prototypes have been tested at facilities belonging to Schaeffler, Siemens, Ford, and Martur Fompak. The Beta Wheeled variant is scheduled for Q3 2026, followed by the Bipedal Beta in late 2026. Gamma-phase production is planned for 2027 and beyond.[28][29]
KinetIQ is Humanoid's proprietary AI framework for end-to-end orchestration of humanoid robot fleets. The cross-timescale architecture comprises four cognitive layers operating simultaneously at different temporal resolutions, with each layer treating the one below as a set of tools. The framework supports cross-embodiment, so a single AI model can control robots with different morphologies and end-effector configurations.[24][30]
| Layer | Name | Timescale | Function |
|---|---|---|---|
| System 3 | Fleet Orchestrator | Seconds | Allocates tasks across the fleet; integrates with WMS/ERP systems |
| System 2 | Robot Executive | Seconds to subminutes | Omni-modal language model decomposes goals into sub-tasks |
| System 1 | Vision-Language-Action | 5 to 10 Hz | Commands body part target poses; exposes picking, placing, and locomotion as skills |
| System 0 | Whole-Body Control | 50 Hz | Achieves pose targets while maintaining dynamic stability via RL-trained control |
A central design principle of KinetIQ is that upper-body control is kept invariant to the locomotion embodiment, so vision-language-action-based manipulation policies transfer cleanly between the wheeled and bipedal variants. Data collected by one variant can improve the performance of the other.[30]
Humanoid has established a collaboration with NVIDIA to accelerate its robotic capabilities.[32]
| NVIDIA technology | Role in HMND 01 |
|---|---|
| Jetson Thor / Orin AGX | Edge processor for on-device foundation model execution |
| Isaac Sim | Digital twins, hardware validation, training |
| Isaac Lab | Reinforcement learning for locomotion and manipulation |
| Isaac GR00T N1.7 | Vision-language-action model integration |
Humanoid was among the first European companies to integrate NVIDIA Jetson Thor into a humanoid robot. Using NVIDIA's AI infrastructure, the company reports VLA model post-training in hours and locomotion policies trained and deployed on a physical robot within 24 hours.[32]
Humanoid has completed multiple proof-of-concept trials with major industrial partners, establishing the HMND 01 as one of the few humanoid robots with documented real-world industrial deployment results.
| Partner | Location | Period | Robot | Focus area | Key result |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Schaeffler | Erlangen, Germany | October 2025 | Pre-alpha | Bin picking (metallic bearing rings) | Results fully met expectations |
| Siemens | Erlangen, Germany | January 2026 | Alpha Wheeled | Logistics (tote-to-conveyor destacking) | 60 tote moves/hour, >90% pick success |
| Ford | Cologne, Germany | Early 2026 | Alpha Wheeled | Automotive (tote handling, body parts) | 83 units/hour, 97% autonomous reliability |
| SAP / Martur Fompak | Turkey | January to February 2026 | Alpha Wheeled | ERP-controlled picking | First external enterprise system control of HMND 01 |
Humanoid operates primarily on a Robots-as-a-Service model rather than selling robots outright, though one-off sales to large manufacturers are also offered. Customers lease HMND 01 units and pay recurring monthly fees. Target unit prices are $50,000 to $70,000 for the wheeled variant and approximately $120,000 for the bipedal variant, translating to an effective operational cost of about $10 per hour.[33][34]
Humanoid targets an initial addressable market of approximately 250 million workers across retail, e-commerce, third-party logistics, manufacturing, and automotive. The company cites a Goldman Sachs projection that the humanoid robot market will reach $38 billion by 2035 with 1.4 million shipments, growing to $1 trillion by 2050.[2]
| Phase | Year | Domain | Market |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2027 | Physical tasks (manufacturing, warehousing, logistics) | 250M workers |
| 2 | 2029 | Service sector (elder care, hospitality) | 1.4B people over 60 |
| 3 | 2031+ | Household applications | 3.5B households |
The Phase 1 focus on industrial applications reflects Sokolov's market-ready philosophy of establishing reliability in controlled industrial settings before expanding to more variable service-sector and household environments.[8][35]
Humanoid is backed by approximately $50 million in founder-led capital. The funding comes primarily from Sokolov's personal investment following his exit from SOKOLOV. As of mid-2025, the company was preparing for a Series A round.[33][35]
| Round | Source | Amount | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Founder-led seed | Sokolov personal capital | ~$30M | 2024 |
| Founder-led follow-on | Sokolov personal capital | ~$20M | 2025 |
| Series A | Planned | Undisclosed | Anticipated post-2025 |
The company spends approximately 1 to 1.5 million pounds annually on training and computing infrastructure.[35]
As of early 2026, Humanoid reports the following commercial metrics.[3]
| Metric | Value |
|---|---|
| Pre-orders | 20,500+ |
| Completed proofs of concept | 6 |
| Active pilot programs | 3 |
| Strategic partnerships | Schaeffler (5-year), NVIDIA |
| Team size | 200+ employees |
| Office locations | London, Boston, Vancouver |
The company has stated that it is fully booked for early 2026 proof-of-concept slots.[28][35]
| Location | Role |
|---|---|
| London, United Kingdom | Global headquarters; business operations and European customer engagement |
| Boston, United States | Hardware engineering and North American operations |
| Vancouver, Canada | Engineering and research |
The geographic distribution across three technology hubs provides access to robotics, AI, and engineering talent.[2][35]
Humanoid operates in a rapidly growing humanoid robot market that has attracted significant investment and attention from major technology companies worldwide.
| Company | Country | Robot | Disclosed funding | Key differentiator |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Humanoid | UK | HMND 01 | $50M (founder-led) | Modular wheeled+bipedal platform, RaaS, KinetIQ fleet orchestration |
| Tesla | USA | Optimus | Self-funded | Manufacturing scale, $20K to $30K target price |
| Figure AI | USA | Figure 02 | $1.5B+ | OpenAI/Microsoft/NVIDIA investors |
| Boston Dynamics | USA | Atlas | Hyundai subsidiary | Decades of locomotion research |
| Agility Robotics | USA | Digit | $170M+ | Amazon partnership, warehouse specialization |
| Apptronik | USA | Apollo | $935M+ | Mercedes-Benz partnership |
| 1X Technologies | Norway/USA | NEO | $125M+ | Consumer/home focus |
| AgiBot | China | A2 | $500M+ | Highest shipment volume to date |
| Unitree | China | G1, H1 | Undisclosed | Low cost, high volume |
Humanoid differentiates itself in several ways: the shared upper-body architecture between wheeled and bipedal variants provides flexibility that most competitors' fixed configurations do not; KinetIQ's cross-embodiment training reduces per-variant costs; the four-layer architecture includes native fleet management whereas many competitors focus on single-robot autonomy; and the RaaS leasing model lowers adoption barriers compared to outright purchase.
The $50 million in founder-led capital is modest compared to Figure AI's $1.5 billion or Apptronik's $935 million, and Tesla can leverage its corporate manufacturing scale. Chinese competitors AgiBot and Unitree have already shipped thousands of units, while Humanoid is still in the proof-of-concept phase. Tesla's target price of $20,000 to $30,000 for Optimus and Unitree's $16,000 G1 create pricing pressure at the lower end of the market.
Humanoid faces several challenges as it scales toward commercial production. The market for AI and robotics specialists is intensely competitive, with rivals including Tesla, Google, NVIDIA, Figure AI, and Apptronik. The humanoid robotics supply chain is still nascent; the Schaeffler partnership for strain wave gear actuators is one step toward addressing this. Running large AI models on-device introduces latency and compute constraints, addressed through NVIDIA Jetson Thor integration. The company expects a regulatory framework for humanoid robots to emerge around 2028 to 2029.[15][35]