HANOVER, Germany — The crowds at this year's industrial fair gathered around the humanoids: machines that walk on two legs, pick up boxes and, in one case, hand out branded water bottles. Twelve companies showed them. Last year there were three.
The demonstrations were impressive and carefully bounded. The robots stacked identical boxes on identical pallets in a space with no people in it.
Asked how many of their machines were deployed in real factories, most exhibitors offered pilot programs and partnerships. One company put the figure at 40. None would say what the robots cost per hour to run.
“The question is not whether a humanoid can do the job,” said Dr. Katrin Vogel, who studies industrial automation. “It is whether it can do the job more cheaply than a wheeled robot with an arm, which usually can.”
The companies' answer is that factories were built for humans, and a machine shaped like one can go anywhere a human can. The factories, so far, are reserving judgment.
A version of this article appears in print on Oct. 11, 2026, Section A, Page 10 of the European edition with the headline: Humanoid Robots Have Arrived at the Trade Show. The Factory Is Another Matter..
