The project showcased Humanoid’s robot in a real-world use case: bin picking of metallic bearing rings in clutter, carried out in a near-production setting at the Schaeffler site in Erlangen, Germany.

London, October 29 — Humanoid, a UK-based robotics and AI company, has successfully completed a Proof of Concept (POC) with Schaeffler using its pre-alpha robot. The project showcased Humanoid's robot in a real-world use case: bin picking of metallic bearing rings in clutter, carried out in a near-production setting at the Schaeffler site in Erlangen, Germany.

The task involved continuously picking bearing rings from bins at a static station using the robot's parallel grippers, transferring them to a buffer table for further processing, and moving between stations. According to Schaeffler's and Humanoid's analysis, traditional automation systems such as robotic arms or cobots, suffer from low utilization and limited ROI for this use case, while humanoid robots bring clear advantages. These include mobility for multi-machine operation, AI models that generalize skills across many ring types, and autonomous correction capabilities for real-time regrasp.

The POC results fully met the established expectations This way the Humanoid team demonstrated its ability to develop new skills rapidly, fine-tune performance on-site, and transfer policies from lab environments into real-world facilities with minimal adjustments.

To support the POC, Humanoid built a physical twin in its lab and used teleoperation with leader arms to collect training data. This data was used to fine-tune a pre-trained VLA model. Required cameras and sensors were integrated directly into the robot, minimizing installation requirements.

"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. 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," said Artem Sokolov, founder of Humanoid.

"Humanoid robotics plays a crucial role in the production of the future. Schaeffler plans to deploy a significant number of humanoid robots in its global manufacturing footprint. The successful proof of concept (POC) with Humanoid is another important milestone on this path. We look forward to making progress together in the next phase of the project leveraging our extensive expertise in manufacturing," says Sebastian Jonas, Senior Vice President Advanced Production Technology at Schaeffler.

Looking ahead, both companies are discussing next steps and moving into the second phase of the POC in a production environment. This next phase will involve Humanoid's alpha robot — the company's first in-house designed and built platform. It will bring higher payload capacity, more advanced manipulation, and improved AI performance. The goal is to validate performance in realistic manufacturing conditions, including noise, dust, materials, and operational demands.