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CHICAGO — Although humanoid robots are the best they’ve ever been, there is still a long way to go before they can fully be implemented on production floors due to scalability limitations, cost and other factors, a group of executives said on a panel at Automate 2026.
On the trade floor June 22-25, dozens of industrial arms and mobile robots demonstrated their unique abilities, such as welding, painting or moving boxes from one location to another. But some of the most popular booths showcased humanoids that could interact with attendees, dance and even make a latte.
“There’s definitely a lot of buzz,” Jim Brown, chief commercial officer for Teradyne Robotics, said at an executive panel about the future of automation. People are enamored by the humanoid “form factor,” but at this point, “maybe they’re not thinking about what problems we are actually trying to solve,” he said.
San Francisco-based startup OpenMind demonstrates its humanoid robot at Automate 2026 in Chicago.
