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Europe is a serious heart of robotics growth and use, in line with Humanoid. Supply: Adobe Inventory
Whereas headlines usually highlight U.S. and Asian corporations within the humanoid robotics race, a silent revolution is brewing within the tech hubs of Europe, the place cutting-edge startups are making outstanding strides in creating human-like robots.
From Norway to Switzerland, revolutionary European companies are pushing the boundaries of robotics expertise, creating machines that may sense, really feel, and work together with their atmosphere in more and more human-like methods.
These developments are usually not simply technological marvels; they’re additionally potential options to international labor shortages and catalysts for a societal shift in how we work and stay.
Robotics innovation is occurring throughout Europe
Europe gives a good marketplace for growth, a stable expertise pool, and no scarcity of revolutionary concepts and analysis labs. Its numerous cultures and languages additionally encourage the event of robots that may navigate advanced social interactions.
The continent has an extended historical past of robotics innovation, with a variety of analysis performed throughout numerous fields comparable to service, industrial, and cognitive robotics. Examples embrace PAL Robotics in Spain, which claimed that it developed the primary autonomous bipedal robotic in Europe, to Swiss corporations like ANYbotics and Swiss-Mile main advances in quadrupedal robots and embodied AI. The continent gives a wealthy atmosphere for robotics growth.
Europe has a various and revolutionary robotics sector. Within the realm of autonomous car, the U.Okay.-based Oxa develops low-compute software program, whereas Sweden’s Einride produces autonomous, electrical highway transport autos. U.Okay.-based ECARX gives turnkey options for next-generation good autos.
Startups in Europe tackle robotics challenges
A number of corporations in Europe have been engaged on promising robotics tasks that deserve consideration:
1X (Norway): This AI robotics firm not too long ago unveiled NEO Beta, a humanoid robotic designed for residence use. With a powerful $100 million funding spherical in January 2024, 1X has now raised a complete of $137 million.
ABB (Switzerland), a world chief in electrification and automation, is predicated in Zurich and has greater than 105,000 staff worldwide. With over 140 years of expertise, the firm integrates software program and engineering to optimize manufacturing, vitality, and automation processes.
ABB Robotics in June launched its next-generation management platform, OmniCore, designed to reinforce precision, velocity, and sustainability in automation. Ensuing from a $170 million funding, OmniCore integrates AI, sensor, cloud, and edge computing programs right into a unified management structure, providing quicker and extra environment friendly robotics options throughout industries.
The platform can enhance robotic movement accuracy to lower than 0.6mm and permits as much as 25% quicker operations whereas lowering vitality consumption by 20%, stated the corporate.
Collectively with Jan and Dan Duncan Neurological Analysis Institute, ABB Robotics developed an automatic fruit-fly switch system utilizing ABB’s YuMi robotic. This eradicated the necessity for anesthesia, which might have an effect on fly conduct and research accuracy in neurological illness analysis.
Agile Robots (Germany), based in 2018 by Dr. Zhaopeng Chen and Peter Meusel, former researchers at DLR’s Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, has quickly grown to make use of over 2,300 individuals throughout a number of international manufacturing websites and R&D facilities in Germany and China.
The Munich-based firm focuses on combining AI with robotics for user-friendly options to advanced manufacturing challenges. Agile Robots stated its capability to depend on each “Chinese language market dynamics and German engineering precision” units it aside.
ANYbotics (Switzerland) emerged from pioneering work at ETH Zurich in 2009 and was formally based in 2016. It has made strides in autonomous robots for industrial purposes. It developed ANYmal, a four-legged robotic able to navigating advanced terrains and performing inspection duties in difficult environments.
Over the previous 14 years, ANYbotics has demonstrated its capability to reinforce employee security, enhance operational effectivity, and assist sustainability targets. The corporate has a partnership with Power Robotics, a developer of hardware-agnostic fleet administration and information analytics platforms, to rework asset monitoring within the vitality business by way of built-in, autonomous inspections.
KUKA (Germany), based in 1898 in Augsburg, has developed from a neighborhood acetylene fuel plant to one of many world’s main suppliers of commercial automation. The firm stated it developed Europe’s first robot-operated welding switch line in 1971 and the world’s first industrial robotic with six electrical motor-driven axes in 1973.
KUKA’s gross sales have exceeded €4 billion ($4.2 billion U.S.) and it employs round 15,000 individuals throughout greater than 50 international locations. The corporate’s portfolio consists of LBR iiwa cobot launched in 2013, and it’s increasing into new markets and areas past its conventional stronghold within the automotive business.
In 2023, the RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award winner launched three new autonomous cell robots (AMRs): the KMR iisy, a cell manipulator with a collaborative arm and a 200 kg (440.9 lb.) payload capability; the KMP 1500P, designed for heavy-duty duties carrying as much as 1.5 tons; and the KMP 600-S, able to transporting 600 kg (1,322.7 lb.).
Neura Robotics (Germany), based in 2019, stated it’s a participant within the cognitive robotics area. The Metzingen-based firm has grown to greater than 170 staff from over 30 international locations, attracting numerous expertise in a aggressive tech panorama. NEURA’s product lineup, together with the MAiRA cognitive cobot and 4NE-1 humanoid robotic, showcases its deal with advancing human-robot collaboration.
The corporate’s current partnership with NVIDIA to make use of the Isaac platform suggests NEURA is positioning itself strategically within the AI-driven robotics market. Nonetheless, the real-world influence and market adoption of those applied sciences stay to be seen within the coming years.
PAL Robotics (Spain) has been on the forefront of service robotics since 2004, gaining important traction with its autonomous robots throughout varied sectors together with business, healthcare, retail, agriculture, and meals. With greater than 20 years of expertise, the corporate has established itself as a frontrunner within the area, persevering with to encourage roboticists worldwide by way of its customizable robotic platforms and modular parts designed for integration into every day life and industrial settings.
Shadow Robotic (U.Okay.), based within the late Nineteen Nineties by a non-tech entrepreneur and a bunch of hobbyists, has turn out to be Britain’s longest-running robotics firm. The London-based firm is finest recognized for creating the Shadow Dexterous Hand, described as probably the most superior five-fingered robotic hand on this planet. It options 20 motors, 24 levels of freedom, and over 100 sensors.
Shadow Robotic stated its expertise is being utilized in each tutorial and business settings. The corporate’s moral stance, together with a “robots for good” coverage and refusal to promote for army use, exhibits its dedication to accountable innovation.
Swiss-Mile (Switzerland), integrated in April 2023 as a spin-off from ETH Zurich‘s Robotic Methods Lab. In its first yr, the corporate achieved early traction with pilot deployments for last-mile supply in good cities and safety for essential infrastructure.
Swiss-Mile raised $22 million in seed funding spherical in August 2024, led by Jeff Bezos and HongShan. This substantial early-stage funding and the involvement of high-profile buyers demonstrated market confidence in Swiss-Mile’s strategy to creating autonomous robots that combine AI with the bodily world.
Common Robots (Denmark), based in 2005 in Odense, has established itself as a pioneer in collaborative robotics. The firm first offered the UR5 cobot in 2008, adopted by the launches of UR10 in 2012 and UR3 in 2015.
Common Robots’ development is evidenced by its acquisition by Teradyne Inc. for $285 million in 2015, the introduction of the e-Sequence in 2018, and reaching the business milestone of 50,000 cobots offered worldwide in 2020. It additionally launched the UR20, a 20kg payload cobot, in 2022, and opened its one centesimal coaching heart, showcasing its dedication to schooling and international growth.
What’s driving the robotics growth in Europe?
The explosion in robotics analysis isn’t taking place in a vacuum. It’s pushed by urgent international wants, significantly labor shortages.
“Labor shortages have appeared throughout a various group of nations that don’t have any obvious widespread options aside from their stage of growth,” stated a current McKinsey report. “Tightness is especially acute in seven international locations—the Czech Republic, Germany, Japan, the Netherlands, Norway, Singapore, and the USA—which have extra vacancies than unemployed employees.”
McKinsey famous that these international locations account for 53% of the whole labor provide of the 30 superior economies in our analysis, and 64% of collective GDP.
Japan, usually thought of the entrance runner in getting older inhabitants, is projected to have 38% of its inhabitants aged 65 or older by 2050, up from 28% in 2020. In Germany, the proportion of individuals aged 65 and older is predicted to rise from 21.7% in 2020 to 31% by 2050, in line with the newest information compiled by the United Nations.
The U.S. is getting older extra slowly than Europe or East Asia however nonetheless expects to see its 65+ inhabitants enhance from 16.9% in 2020 to 22% by 2050. Whereas China and Western markets have vastly totally different labor and dwelling prices, these financial contrasts straight form the main focus areas and use instances pursued by robotics startups in every area.
These demographic shifts contribute considerably to labor shortages, because the working-age inhabitants shrinks relative to the general inhabitants. This pattern is prone to proceed and doubtlessly intensify within the coming many years, presenting challenges for financial development and social programs in these international locations.
Cobots are a part of the answer
Regardless of perceptions that European factories may lag in robotic innovation, a wave of collaborative robotics is sweeping throughout the continent’s manufacturing sector. The Sharework and SHERLOCK applications, funded by way of the European Fee’s Factories of the Future initiative, have developed and carried out programs that work safely alongside human operators with out the necessity for protecting obstacles.
These clever robots, geared up with AI-driven notion and decision-making capabilities, might revolutionize meeting strains from automotive to renewable vitality. By specializing in human-centered design and employee well-being, these tasks are usually not solely boosting productiveness but additionally bettering job high quality, doubtlessly opening up manufacturing to a extra numerous workforce.
A future with humanoids approaches
Humanoid robots supply one other answer to labor shortages, and the market is responding to their potential to reshape industries and society. The worldwide marketplace for humanoid robots was valued at roughly $1.5 billion in 2024 and is predicted to succeed in $9.4 billion by 2030, rising at a compound annual development price (CAGR) of 36.2%.
Whereas there are quite a few business trials, there have been no profitable mass deployments or confirmed enterprise instances within the humanoid robotic area, making it an thrilling second for the business. Goldman Sachs analysis predicts that by 2035, the whole addressable marketplace for humanoid robots will attain $38 billion—greater than six instances their earlier projection of $6 billion.
Robotics startups comparable to Neura Robotics and 1x Applied sciences are focusing extra on family purposes, setting Europe aside from industrial-focused opponents within the U.S. or China.
At Humanoid, we imagine in a extra gradual strategy, and we expect that humanoid robotic expertise ought to first turn out to be important at factories and warehouses earlier than ultimately integrating it into our properties.
Three main technical challenges at the moment restrict humanoid robotics growth: AI capabilities and coaching, battery life, and actuator applied sciences for secure, environment friendly motion. Social elements and regulatory considerations are additionally challenges.
The price of constructing these robots varies broadly based mostly on their meant use, with our estimates starting from $10,000 to $300,000 per unit. The funding panorama is dominated by U.S.-based humanoid startups, which are a magnet for 80-90% of complete funding, adopted by Chinese language corporations.
The U.S. additionally leads in business pilot applications, whereas stricter labor rules and the presence of robust labor unions in Europe and the U.Okay. have restricted deployment alternatives in these areas.
Humanoid shares imaginative and prescient and positioning
At Humanoid, we deal with constructing versatile robots with a modular, human-like design that may combine into present environments. These humanoids are meant to be appropriate with present instruments and automation programs, simply repurposed for various duties, and able to automating medium- to high-precision duties that commonplace industrial robots can not deal with, all whereas sustaining security.
The firm‘s imaginative and prescient aligns with these of corporations like 1X, which see automation not as a method to maximise effectivity in any respect prices, however as a strategy to improve human potential. By taking up the bodily demanding and repetitive duties, Humanoid’s robots might liberate people to have interaction in work that’s extra fulfilling, inventive, and aligned with their private development.
Think about a world the place former warehouse employees, free of bodily pressure and monotony, have the time and vitality to pursue schooling, begin companies, or just spend extra high quality time with their households. That is the long run we’re working in the direction of — one the place expertise serves humanity by giving individuals extra time to be really human.
Concerning the creator
Dmitrii Rudnitckii is chief expertise officer at Humanoid (SKL Robotics Ltd.). He has in depth worldwide expertise and a confirmed observe report in robotics, AI, and autonomous programs throughout a number of industries, together with manufacturing, telecommunications, and banking.
At Humanoid, Rudnitckii leads the event of next-generation humanoid robots with cutting-edge AI integration to reshape human-robot collaboration and push the boundaries of automation. He beforehand spearheaded the creation of a completely versatile autonomous electrical car manufacturing unit at ARRIVAL, an organization targeted on creating zero-emission transportation by way of superior manufacturing processes.
