Artem Sokolov is the founding father of Humanoid, in addition to a world investor and entrepreneur. He successfully took over his family business and grew it to a $1 billion valuation. He later founded Humanoid to construct secure and reliable humanoid robots that free humans from physically demanding work. Today, he leads a team of over 130 professionals from among the world’s leading tech firms, bringing world-class technical depth to engineer the long run of human–machine collaboration.
Founded by Sokolov in 2024, Humanoid is a UK-based robotics innovation company dedicated to developing advanced humanoid robots that enhance human capabilities. With offices in London, Boston, and Vancouver, the corporate is targeted on creating commercially viable, scalable, and secure robotic solutions for real-world applications across industries.
What inspired you to launch Humanoid, and what led you to decide on a humanoid form factor over other robotic designs?
My personal background played a giant role in shaping what I’m doing today. My grandparents spent their entire lives working in jewelry manufacturing – with long hours, from early morning until late at night, they didn’t see the world in any respect. As I scaled my jewelry business, I saw how repetitive work negatively affected people.
That have inspired me to begin Humanoid: to construct secure, reliable, and helpful humanoid robots that free people from hard and monotonous work.
Why humanoids? There’s lots of debate on this topic, with many arguing that industrial robots are a more efficient, mature and deployment-ready technology.
During my years as an entrepreneur and investor, I had a realization while observing a warehouse design and process: every shelf, workstation, and piece of apparatus was fundamentally designed around proportions of a human body and human capabilities.
The world is designed for humans and as an alternative of reinventing our entire industrial infrastructure to accommodate robots, it’s the humanoid robots that ought to naturally fit into these human-scaled environments.
This easy idea evolved and have become the catalyst for launching Humanoid, with the mission of empowering humanity by constructing probably the most reliable, secure and helpful humanoid robots.
Furthermore, unlike industrial robots designed for specific tasks, the human form is incredibly versatile. We are able to walk, run, grasp objects, use different tools, and rather more. Humanoid robots have the potential to perform a wide selection of tasks and constantly learn. So, as an alternative of buying a brand new robot for each task, a humanoid can simply be taught recent skills. It makes them way more flexible.
With firms like Tesla, Agility Robotics, and Figure AI entering the humanoid robotics space, what differentiates Humanoid’s approach?
It’s true, there is no such thing as a shortage of competitors, and a few of them have already achieved impressive breakthroughs. But I imagine that competition, in our case, is an amazing thing. It drives your entire market, shapes expectations, creates demand, and eventually drives the price down as well. Right away, we’re all constructing this industry from scratch – there isn’t yet a successful product example to follow.
Global trends like labor shortages and aging population are making it clear that the demand is very large. I don’t think there will probably be only one ultimate winner on this humanoid race. As a substitute, multiple firms will emerge, collectively meeting the demand and shaping the long run of the industry. This can be a marathon, not a sprint.
We’re developing Humanoid with a concentrate on practical, market-ready solutions relatively than simply doing interesting robotics research. We’ve seen many videos of robots doing backflips, dancing, or playing sports on social media – however the query is, what’s the aim? Warehouses or production lines don’t need robots that may dance.
Our robots are designed for mass commercialization, so our principal priority is to bring them from labs to the true world as fast as we are able to. Our approach prioritizes making Humanoid robots each inexpensive and immediately deployable in real-world settings. We’re starting with pick-and-place use cases, for instance, picking individual items from a shelf and placing them right into a tote. Then, we’ll move to more complex tasks like visual checks or assembly in manufacturing.
Our time-to-market is incredibly fast in comparison with competitors. Founded in May 2024, we’re already moving with business testing, only one 12 months after launch.
To attain this goal, in only one 12 months we’ve built a team of greater than 130 experts in humanoid robotics. We profit from a second-mover advantage. Our team has worked at top robotics and AI firms, so we’ve seen what doesn’t work and now we’re capable of concentrate on what does. Meaning we are able to move faster, skip early R&D, and avoid expensive mistakes. To be honest, I see my strength in attracting top talent and constructing effective teams able to achieving extraordinary results.
You emphasize the moral development of humanoid robots. What principles guide your team in ensuring responsible AI and robotics innovation?
The ethics of humanoid robotics is one of the debated topics in the sector today.
Everyone knows Isaac Asimov’s Three Laws of Robotics, they usually are still relevant. But they were formulated over 80 years ago, and since then, some entirely recent challenges have emerged.
One key query is the balance between autonomy and control. How independent should robots be? One other major challenge is data privacy. By 2035, we expect humanoid robots to grow to be an everyday a part of households. They are going to assist with day by day chores, provide elder care, and even help combat loneliness. But when robots live with us, they’ll inevitably collect vast amounts of private data. How much are we willing to share? Where will we draw the road?
There’s no correct answer because humanity has never lived and worked alongside robots before. These are the questions that the industry will address in the approaching years as humanoid robots move from prototypes to on a regular basis life.
At Humanoid, we’re starting with industrial use cases, that are rather more predictable. This permits us to check various scenarios, refine our technology, and guarantee that our robots are fully secure before introducing them into households.
Furthermore, being headquartered in Europe is a bonus in some ways, given the region’s robotics expertise and powerful industrial heritage, particularly from renowned technical universities and research institutions.
We maintain rigorous safety protocols and regular ethical audits, while actively collaborating with these experts and stakeholders to make sure our robots enhance workplace productivity without compromising human wellbeing or job security. That is crucial.
At the tip of the day, we imagine in transparency and the importance of maintaining clear documentation of our development processes to make sure our technology stays accountable and trustworthy.
What type of AI powers Humanoid’s robots? Are you developing proprietary AI models, leveraging large language models (LLMs), or integrating third-party AI solutions?
We’re developing our own models, but initially, we’re using existing VLAs as a base and constructing our Application Layer Models on top. Over time, we’re progressing toward a totally proprietary autonomous generalization model.
Our robots can collect and synthesize knowledge related to many various applications, which makes them great for general purposes.
We don’t use traditional robotics stack. As a substitute, we put Vision-Language-Motion (VLA) models and a reasoning system on the very core. This manner, our robots don’t just perceive the world – they understand it.
Our AI development timeline is extremely competitive. That’s because key breakthroughs in manipulation, scene understanding, reasoning, and vision-language models have only recently grow to be viable, May-June last 12 months. No company has a major head start.
Ultimately, I imagine that success in humanoid robotics won’t be about having one of the best foundation model alone. It would come from having one of the best application-specific data, hardware, and seamless real-world integration. The businesses that win will probably be those that execute best – offering reliable products and great customer support. That’s exactly what we’re focused on.
As for the robots’ autonomy, we’re addressing it in three stages. The primary one is shared autonomy, when robots can ask for human help when needed. We expect that by 2026-2027, our robots will perform 80% of business tasks with minimal human assistance. And by late 2027 they’ll reach full autonomy.
How does Humanoid’s AI approach loco-manipulation and environment perception to make sure secure and efficient operation in real-world environments?
At Humanoid, our AI approach to loco-manipulation and environment perception integrates advanced computer vision, adaptive locomotion algorithms, and intelligent manipulation systems.
Our robots are equipped with cameras and AI to acknowledge objects, people, and obstacles. They use cutting-edge sensor fusion and machine learning to construct a semantic understanding of their surroundings, enabling secure navigation and interaction in complex, dynamic environments.
That is coupled with a continuous learning framework that enables our humanoid robots to enhance over time, making them increasingly capable and efficient partners for humans in various real-world settings.
Modularity is a key feature of HMND 01. How does this flexibility improve real-world deployment in comparison with other humanoid robots?
We design our HMND 01 robots with modularity on the core, since it’s certainly one of the important thing features for mass commercialization. HMND 01’s modular design offers flexibility in real-world deployment, allowing for quick reconfiguration to suit diverse tasks and environments.
We’re starting with a wheeled robot because it will probably reach the market faster – it’s a safer, more flexible solution. It is also in higher demand immediately, especially in logistics, where over 80% of use cases will be addressed with any such platform.
With the wheeled robot, we are able to concentrate on solving a single challenge: manipulation – relatively than tackling manipulation, locomotion, and safety abruptly.
Each platforms also share the identical upper body design – so once the wheeled robot masters certain manipulation tasks, those skills will be easily transferred to the bipedal robot.
Beyond convenience, modularity can also be cost-effective. It enables easy upgrades, repairs, and customizations without replacing your entire robot, which reduces downtime and maintenance costs.
The modular architecture helps with rapid innovation and integration of latest technologies, making it easier for HMND 01 to adapt to evolving industry needs in comparison with a standard, monolithic humanoid design.
Moreover, many individuals noticed in our first product video that HMND 01 robots could wear different garments. Their primary function isn’t style, in fact, – these garments protect each the robot’s systems and the encircling environment by reducing contamination and minimizing collision effect. There’s also a powerful branding component for clients – they’ll customize the robot with their brand colours, logos, or other visual elements.
On condition that humanoid robots require advanced motion control, how does Humanoid’s robotics architecture ensure balance, agility, and flexibility in diverse environments?
Engineering bipedal robots is a demanding challenge, because walking on two legs is incredibly complex. Humans make it look very easy, but in point of fact, it requires advanced mechanics, balance control, and precise coordination.
Then, a lab floor is one thing, but real-world environments might be unpredictable – slippery surfaces, gravel, or obstacles all make motion control even harder.
As I’ve already mentioned, we’re addressing the locomotion challenge by starting with the wheeled platform first. We also utilize a mixture of model-predictive control (MPC) and whole-body control strategies, enabling our humanoid robots to make strategic locomotion decisions like walking based on data from the encircling environment.
Our architecture incorporates learning-based control strategies that enable the robots to enhance their balance capabilities over time. The robustness and precision of our control systems enable HMND 01 robots to navigate confined spaces with accuracy.
What do you’re thinking that will probably be the largest societal challenge as humanoid robots grow to be more integrated into on a regular basis life?
I see lots of discussions, especially on social media, about humanoid robots taking on jobs, but the entire idea of ‘Humans versus Machines’ is fundamentally incorrect. Humanoids won’t replace humans, they’ll work with us, fill labor shortages and create entirely recent roles around their use.
Remember when people feared the web would make staff obsolete? As a substitute, it triggered a significant societal shift, transforming workplaces and making digital skills essential for many professions. I see the identical future for humanoid robots. But shifting public perception will take time.
Moreover, as a society, we are going to need recent frameworks and workplace regulations to define how we interact with robots as colleagues. We’ve never coexisted in this manner before, so it should require entirely recent rules and behaviors.
As humanoid robots grow to be ubiquitous, I believe it should also change lots of things about how we perceive ourselves and our place on this planet.
There could also be some resistance or existential crises, but I’m certain it should lead us to explore recent frontiers of human potential and creativity.
Scaling robotics hardware will be costly. What’s Humanoid’s commercialization technique to make humanoid robots more accessible and cost-effective?
In comparison with industrial robots, humanoids may seem to be a less cost-effective solution. Nonetheless, as production scales up prices are already coming down: in response to Goldman Sachs, the common price has dropped from $250,000 per unit to $150,000 per unit.
After all, current pricings and costs reflect the early, non-mass manufacturing stage. As production grows and the provision chain improves, we are able to expect costs to further go down. Some firms are already talking about $20,000 robots, but that’s mostly hype — the market doesn’t really expect prices that low. For industrial and logistics use, a more realistic price range is around $50,000-70,000.
Let’s consider this cost within the context of labor expenses. In accordance with PwC, with a conservative lifespan of three years, the estimated ownership cost of a humanoid robot could be around $5 per hour. In accordance with our internal estimation, the number is higher, around $10 per hour. Still it is way lower than the common wages for staff in developed countries, even before the advantages, HR costs, and training expenses. This shift might be a game-changer for workforce economics.
It’s useful to take a look at BOM costs, but in the case of robots, what really matters is the whole cost of ownership (TCO). For Humanoid, low TCO is certainly one of the important thing product features. We’re looking to boost capabilities of our robots while keeping hardware costs down, making them more accessible for various applications in industrial settings.
We’re also exploring partnerships and collaborations with tech giants and targeting specific sectors like logistics and manufacturing to drive adoption and achieve economies of scale.
Looking ahead, what are Humanoid’s next major milestones in the event and deployment of your robots?
Humanoid’s next major milestone is the launch of our bipedal and wheeled alpha models later this 12 months. They are going to feature advanced AI capabilities and modular design for versatility across various industries. Furthermore, we’re planning to launch pilot projects with partners in logistics and manufacturing. I’m confident that we’ll be announcing some exciting developments and partnerships soon.
We’ve recently launched a product video, offering a primary have a look at our general-purpose humanoid robot HMND 01 in motion. The audience’s feedback has been incredible, but showcasing a product in a video is one thing – bringing it to life is one other. That’s now our principal focus, and Humanoid’s hardware and software teams are working tirelessly to make it a reality.
I’m very happy with the team we’ve assembled – they’re a few of one of the best professionals within the industry, and with our recently opened offices within the U.S. and Canada, we’re also specializing in attracting one of the best talent in these regions.
