Humanoid robots are riding a wave of investor and market interest as they reach new levels of technical capability.
2024 is set to see the commercial release of several new humanoid robots, which resemble the human body and can perform tasks traditionally carried out by humans in areas like manufacturing, logistics, and retail.
The surge is propelled by advancements in AI, pilot programs demonstrating commercial viability, and significant investment from big tech. In particular, robotics developers are targeting more realistic human-robot interactions using large language models (LLMs) and natural language processing.
Using CB Insights data, we assess the landscape for humanoid robots. Below, we cover:
- Record funding to humanoid companies in 2024 so far
- The most well-funded humanoid companies
- Which companies are seeing the fastest headcount growth
- Geographic breakdown of humanoid companies
- Use cases and applications for humanoid robots
Dig deeper using CB Insights’ industrial humanoid robots market report.
Funding for humanoid industrial robot developers has already reached a new high in 2024, primarily driven by Figure’s $675M Series B round in February, which drew participation from the investment arms of Amazon, Intel, Nvidia, Microsoft, OpenAI, and Samsung. Figure uses reinforcement learning — a type of machine learning — for its humanoids instead of relying on manual coding.
Labor shortages — particularly in manufacturing, among other industries — have created a burning market need, while AI is accelerating humanoid development by allowing them to learn complex tasks more quickly.
Meanwhile, costs are declining. As companies roll out commercial models, they’re initially targeting around $100K per robot, with the eventual goal of bringing that down to the $20K-$50K range.
