Automation: The Humanoid Robots Inside Siemens’ Factory

Human-like robots have been working at Siemens’ electronics factory in Erlangen, Germany.

In partnership with AI and robotics company Humanoid, a trial was successfully completed that demonstrates the use of these robots in industrial logistics. 

Siemens says this is the first step in a broader partnership between the two companies to test and validate how humanoid robots can be used in real-world environments. 

Stephan Schlauß, Global Head of Manufacturing Motion Control at Siemens, says: “As Siemens' customer zero, the Electronics Factory Erlangen is excited to partner with the Humanoid team. 

“We're tackling production automation, discovering new opportunities for Siemens and are eager to advance this promising technology across our factory network to deliver customer value.”

Automating repetitive tasks

The proof of concept (POC) was structured in two phases, with the first focussed on in-house development and demonstration. 

During this stage, the Humanoid team created a physical twin for testing, optimisation and rapid iteration throughout testing. 

The second phase saw a two week deployment at the Siemens Electronics Factory where partners assessed the robots in a real-world production environment. 

Robots were tasked with destacking within Siemens’ logistics process. 

Totes were autonomously picked up from a storage stack, transported to a conveyor and placed at a designated pickup point for human operators. 

This sequence was repeated until the stack was fully empty. 

Measuring autonomous success

Siemens says the PIC measured both the performance and reliability of the robots under autonomous operation. 

The target metrics were met in full and included a throughput of 60 tote moves each hour, operation with two different tote sizes and continuous autonomous task execution for more than 30 minutes. 

Success was also measured through overall pick and place success rate and autonomous pick and place success rate, which were both above 90%.

Artem Sokolov, Founder and CEO of Humanoid, says: “At Humanoid, we are a commercially driven company. 

“Our focus is on creating robots that deliver measurable value in real-world settings. 

“Working closely with industrial and technology partners allows us to validate our systems against real operational requirements and understand which use cases matter outside the lab. 

“This joint POC with Siemens showed clear potential for practical deployment of humanoid robots. 

“We see them move steadily toward the real world, and partnerships like this one help accelerate that transition.”

About Humanoid’s robotics

Based in the UK, Humanoid aims to create commercially scalable and safe humanoid robots. 

Artem says: “Our team is developing robots designed to seamlessly integrate into various industries, tackling tasks deemed hazardous or monotonous. 

“This isn’t about replacing human workers but rather about augmenting our capabilities and freeing individuals to pursue more fulfilling endeavours.”

The HMND 01 ALPHA BIPEDAL has 29 degrees of freedom and is packed with technology including RGB cameras, depth sensors and 6D F/T sensors. 

It also has end-to-end reasoning and skills powered by NVIDIA processing.

Humanoid also makes the HMND 01 ALPHA WHEELED, a humanoid upper body on a wheeled platform instead of two legs. 

This model has been used in a POC with Schaeffler to pick metallic bearing rings in a near-production environment. 

“At Humanoid, early POCs are one of our key priorities because they allow us to iterate faster — to go into the real world as early as possible and learn what our future customers truly need,” Artem explains. 

“This project proved that even at the pre-alpha stage, our platform can deliver tangible value in operational settings. 

“We see high potential for more operational applications with humanoids at Schaeffler’s factories.”