The Agile ONE humanoid might be manufactured in Germany. Supply: Agile Robots
Extra humanoid robots are coming to market. Agile Robots SE at this time mentioned it’s launching Agile ONE, its first humanoid. The corporate mentioned the robotic is designed to work safely and effectively alongside individuals and different techniques in industrial settings.
“At Agile Robots, we imagine the following industrial revolution is bodily AI — clever, autonomous and versatile robots that may understand, perceive and act within the bodily world,” said Dr. Zhaopeng Chen, co-founder and CEO of Agile Robots. “Agile ONE embodies this revolution.”
Based in 2018, Agile Robots mentioned its new humanoid builds on its current portfolio, which incorporates the Agile Hand, the FR3 force-sensitive robotic arm, the Diana 7 power- and force-limited arm, and the Thor collection robotic arms.
The Munich, Germany-based firm in 2023 acquired cobot arm maker Franka Emika GmbH. It additionally makes automated guided automobiles (AGVs) and autonomous cell robots (AMRs), in addition to the AgileCore AI-driven software program platform.
Agile Robots has 2,500 staff and has doubled its income prior to now 4 years, Chen informed The Robotic Report. It has put in greater than 20,000 techniques, specializing in the automotive and shopper electronics sectors.
Agile ONE consists of intuitive HRI, dexterous grippers
The brand new humanoid combines intuitive human-robot interplay (HRI), a dexterous robotic hand, and an revolutionary AI mannequin educated on real-world information, in response to Agile Robots. The corporate mentioned it targeted on flexibility, perceptiveness, and communications.
The system’s consumer interface consists of responsive eye rings that mild up and blink to substantiate understanding, proximity sensors and a rearview digicam for security, and a chest show with real-time info.
“We wish to construct a co-worker that people can belief and that persons are comfy to work round,” mentioned Chen. “We’ve already labored with cobots and are taking part in discussions in Europe for brand new security requirements for humanoids.”
Agile Robots’ five-fingered fingers have a number of sensors to imitate human ranges of dexterity.
“That is really primarily based on my Ph.D. work 12 years in the past,” Chen famous. “Sensitivity is embedded within the hand, with drive sensing within the joints and tactile sensing within the fingertips. The robotic can manipulate a tiny screw, function an influence instrument, or contact a display screen.”
Agile ONE is designed for preliminary use in structured industrial environments. Supply: Agile Robots
Agile Robots takes a layered strategy to coaching information, AI
One differentiator for Agile Robots is its layered strategy to synthetic intelligence, mentioned Chen. He described a “information pyramid” with a base of real-world teleoperation and subject information, adopted by bodily simulation information and a prime layer derived from movies and pictures.
Equally, the brand new humanoid’s “mind” consists of layers of cognition and management. “The primary layer is gradual pondering — the best way to do issues step-by-step, planning a activity like a human,” defined Chen. “The second, quick pondering, is for particular person actions like greedy, opening a gate, or any dynamic conditions.”
“The third layer is we give low-level, high-frequency management of advantageous manipulation. People don’t take into consideration the best way to place every finger to carry an object,” he mentioned. “Our AI mannequin is educated on certainly one of Europe’s largest real-world datasets.”
“Our HRI, dexterous manipulation, and basis mannequin for layered AI techniques all contribute to differentiate Agile ONE from rivals,” asserted Chen. “NVIDIA is offering the computational energy, however we imagine that fashions need to be self-trained and that in-house {hardware} design goes hand in hand with software program iteration.”
“Agile ONE is probably the most superior embodiment of bodily AI, nevertheless it’s in no way the one one,” added Rory Sexton, senior vp of operations at Agile Robots. “We make wheeled humanoids, general-purpose composing robots [mobile manipulators], robotic arms, and cell robots. That is our most superior robotic physique, however we additionally concentrate on the mind and the coaching information to be taught on a regular basis duties.”
Humanoid to be inbuilt Germany
Whereas Agile Robotics has suppliers and clients in China, Europe, and the U.S., it designed the brand new robotic’s motors, actuators, and management techniques in Germany, managing its whole provide chain. The firm additionally plans to fabricate the robotic in-house in Bavaria beginning in early 2026.
The humanoid is designed for all kinds of industrial duties, together with materials gathering and transport, pick-and-place operations, machine tending, instrument use, and advantageous manipulation. Agile Robotics is initially specializing in frequent manufacturing duties, however as extra clients acquire high-quality information, they may prepare their very own brokers, mentioned Sexton.
He added that AgileCore might ultimately join the humanoid to robots from Agile Robots and different distributors. “That’s a part of the facility of bodily AI: A robotic that stands alone isn’t as helpful as one which’s related,” Sexton famous.
Whereas Agile Robots didn’t but specify anticipated manufacturing numbers or a worth for Agile ONE, it expects demand for humanoids to be robust.
“Market analysis suggests that the overall addressable market [TAM] for humanoids might be someplace between $1.2 trillion and $4 trillion by 2035, in contrast with the TAM for industrial automation, which is round $300 billion,” mentioned Chen. “We wish to make the product genuinely helpful, and it’s one other constructing block for bodily AI for trade.”
