Mapping the rise of humanoid robotics companies worldwide

When was the first cinematic depiction of a machine with a human brain? It was in 1927, when the German film Metropolis was released.

Nearly a century later, human-shaped robots are no longer just imagination. The launches of new humanoid robots, designed to resemble and function like humans, have happened by the dozen within just a few months.

So, why are humanoid robots significant? 

In some ways, they are easier to develop. As the world is built for humans, it provides a large dataset to train humanoid robots with similar physiques, said Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang at the Computex conference in Taiwan last year.

Experts also say humanoid robots are more flexible than specialized industrial robots, which have been in development since the 1930s.

This flexibility may help address labor shortages in aging societies, where factories often struggle to find enough workers. 

“Eventually, when we are able to create a network of AI, it will require some sort of physical AI to solve human problems. That will be almost the end game,” says Hanafiah Yussof, CEO and founder of Malaysia-based robotics company Robopreneur. 

His firm produced the country’s first humanoid robot prototype in 2019, a project fully funded by the Ministry of Finance Malaysia. The project was shut down following a change in government post-election. 

China leading the pack

Humanoid robots began receiving widespread public attention in 2022 when Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, unveiled the first prototype of Optimus. At the time, he claimed it would “revolutionize physical work.” 

   

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