Updating the best humanoid robots of 2024

Post updated with more humanoids (total is now ?? - I'm sure I've missed some too)

jensen huang in a leather jacket and mark zuckerberg in a hoodie at SIGGRAPH

SIGGRAPH 2024 was full of fun with Nvidia CEO swapping jackets with Mark Zuckerberg in a surprise guest appearance, but the real star of the show was Nvidia’s commitment to humanoid robots.

“The next wave of AI is robotics, and one of the most exciting developments is humanoid robots. (…) We’re advancing the entire NVIDIA robotics stack, opening access for worldwide humanoid developers and companies to use the platforms, acceleration libraries, and AI models best suited for their needs.” Jensen Huang, keynote at SIGGRAPH 2024

You may already have heard of Project Groot, and that’s just one of a score of services and tools to help the world’s leading robot manufacturers, AI model developers, and software makers develop, train, and build the next generation of humanoid robotics.

Seems like the best robotics conferences aren’t always robotics conferences!

On with the Humanoids

There are now 39 40 41 humanoid robot companies trying to commercialize for home and industry (not research) purposes.

Humanoid robotics have made the big time, as CBInsights includes them in their 2024 Tech Trends Report.

The Current Humanoids Top of the Charts:

Criteria - custom hardware capable of performing paid work. Top tier are available commercially in 2024. Most say 2025. How much they end up costing, from the price of a delivery vehicle all the way down to a small car, whether they ever make it past pilots and how effective, affordable and reliable they are… stay posted.

What’s new right now is who’s taking advantage of Nvidia’s tools for humanoids.

1x, Boston Dynamics, ByteDance Research, Field AI, Figure, Fourier, Galbot, LimX Dynamics, Mentee, Neura Robotics, RobotEra and Skild AI are among the first to join the early-access program. Nvidia Newsroom

The roll out of sophisticated new robots and how we integrate them into society is at the heart of my early research and my current roles as the Managing Director of Silicon Valley Robotics and as the VP of Industrial Activities for the IEEE Robotics and Automation Society, and VP of IEEE Entrepreneurship Deep Tech. 

Who’s commercializing in 2024? (now 2025 in most cases)

(in alphabetical order by company not robot)

⭐ 1x - Neo

In my top six, having been a fan of 1x’s approach to commercialization with a mobile base humanoid, before aiming for a bipedal humanoid. There’s secret sauce in the actuators that allow for a light weight robot and 1x is aiming for a sub 30kg Neo, which is currently piloting in the CEOs home :)

Agibot - Expedition A1

Based in China and I’ve not seen in action, but Agibot has a stylish backward knee humanoid aimed at automobile manufacturing, reliability and AI.

⭐ Agility Robotics - Digit

Agility Robotics would like us to know that they were they are the only humanoid robotics company so far to let journalists film the robot while working in the wild. All other companies provide preselected and edited video footage. Still in the lead, Digit!

⭐ Apptronik - Astra

Also a leader in commercialization, Apptronik has a great track record so far, spinning out of University of Texas in 2016 and working with NASA on Valkyrie in the DARPA Challenge, they have also produced a humanoid upper body (Astra) first, also two exoskeletons (Apex, Sagittarius) before launching Apollo. See Apollo in various real world pilots this year, in retail, 3PL and manufacturing.

🥷 ByteDance Research - ??

Another rapidly rising Chinese humanoid robotics team, with the benefits of serving ByteDance’s ecommerce needs for first trials/deployments, as well as seeking customers. They are taking commercialization lessons from Boston Dynamics and Tesla. Part of Nvidia’s humanoid robot developer program.

🥷 DeepRobotics - ??

DeepRobotics produces great quadrupeds which you can see somersaulting and heading soccer balls on youtube. There was a teaser video incorporating a humanoid robot from Zhejiang University in 2023, Wukong 4. I don’t know if Deep Robotics have a specific humanoid robot in production - but a quadruped on one pair of legs looks remarkably similar to small Digit. (see clip below)

https://twitter.com/i/status/1806262187444273210

🥷 Field AI - Gaia

Field AI are pioneering Field Foundation Models “Some robots don’t just need great ‘bodies’; they need great brains, too.” — Bill Gates on Field AI. Read the Featured Story on GatesNotes.

⭐ Figure - Figure01

⭐ Fourier Intelligence - GR-1

Galbot -

Hyperspawn -

Kepler Exploration Robot - Forerunner

LimX Dynamics - CL-1

Mentee Robotics - MenteeBot

Prosper Robotics - Alfie

Robot Era

🥷 Sanctuary - Phoenix

Skild.ai

🥷Tesla - Optimus

UBTech - Walker S

⭐ Unitree - H1

Westwood - Themis

XPENG Robotics -

🥷 for 6 + 6 + 9 = 21

Who isn’t really affordable / available @ $🚙 or $🚚? 

(companies are going to be switched from list to list as things develop)

• ArtRobot (China) - Iron Man

• Beyond Imagination - Beonmi

• Boston Dynamics - Atlas 2.0

  Never say never, but Boston Dynamics does not have a great reputation for commercialization. However, the new electric Atlas 2.0 is a beautiful robot.

• Cartwheel Robotics - tbd

• Clone Robotics - Clone Hand, Clone Torso

• Devanthro - Robody

• Enchanted Tools - Mirakai

• Engineered Arts - Ameca

• FutureBots - ATOM2

• Gael Langevin - InMoov

• IIT - ErgoCub

• Kawasaki Robotics - Kaleido

• Kind Humanoid - ?

• Magic Lab - ? (Silicon Valley via China)

• NASA - Valkyrie

• Neura - 4NE-1 (I’ve only seen edited videos and promises from Neura)

• Omeife.ai - Omeife

• PAL - Reem-C

• Stealth Humanoid (Bay Area) - (I’ll be surprised if there’s only one)

• Toyota - T-HR3

• TRI - Punyo

• Xiaomi - CyberOne

• Xinghaitua - China

• Zhejiang University - Wukong 4

New category - wheeled humanoids

• Aeolus Robotics - aeo

  Based in SF, aeo is ‘the most capable service robot working today’ according to website

• AnnaOne ApS - Anna

• CloudMinds - Ginger 1, 2 and Pepper

• Comma.ai - body

• Elephant Robotics - Mercury X1

• Karlsruhe Institute of Technology - Armar

• Kinisee Robotics

• Oversonic - Robee

• Promobot - various (Russian? company with many global licensees/franchisees)

• Rainbow Robotics - RBY1

• Softbank Robotics - Pepper - production was paused in 2021 due to low demand

• Unlimited Robotics - Gary

• Whipsaw - Bizzy and Martian

And what about fixed base dual armed ‘head’ topped robots?

I personally think it’s a viable category, however currently it’s only research robots OR cafe/bartending robots.

New category - Extreme Environments? - ICub on jet packs, ocean one underwater, valkyrie in space

Who also isn’t in the running? 

• Hollywood Humanoids

Hollywood Humanoids are one off robots for the purpose of entertainment, like Stuntronics from Disney Imagineering, Sophia from Hanson Robotics, Jiang Lai Lai from EX Robot, Xoxe from AI Life, Omeife from Omeife.ai, Bob from IOXLab or Beonmi from Beyond Imagination (moved to the list due to commercialization plans) ....

• Research robots

Love them but they have a different purpose. Only robots with commercial deployment plans, and ideally, an affordable price tag and a date in 2024 when they’ll be available for purchase, if they aren’t already being sold.

• Not humanoid

I also love robots that work like a humanoid but don’t look human-like. We saw some examples in the DARPA Robotics Challenge, most notably RoboSimian. Once we go down that route, all quadrupeds, and multi-armed robots or wheeled bimanual robots, would qualify. Who knew there were so many robots!

New category of wheeled humanoids started - if they have heads and two arms on a mobile base - but have to have interaction ability or else….

Who have I missed?

I’m hoping to crowdsource some more great robots :)