With stats like that, one can’t help but suspect that the first country to have a million humanoids will be China.

The idea of a humanoid robot building an airplane may sound far-fetched, but a new deal between the European aviation giant Airbus and Chinese robot specialist UBTech suggests that such a scenario could be on the cards.

Many researchers agree that there has been a step change in humanoid capability over the past five years, owing to cheaper parts as well as innovations such as improved battery power and artificial-intelligence algorithms, which allow for better perception and autonomy.

Humans are desperate to put the robots to work. The only problem is, the robots don’t “work” to any degree. These humanoid bots are interesting. Some are even cute. Few, if any, are anywhere close to prime time. It was a dour scene at CES 2026, so much so I can’t help but wonder if they ever will be.

Their partnership will trial Walker S2 humanoid robots in aircraft manufacturing, signalling a global push into industrial automation.

On Jan. 22, Louisiana's economic development agency and St. Bernard-based SSE Steel Fabrication announced an agreement with Houston-based tech startup Persona AI to launch a pilot program at SSE to develop humanoid robotics for industrial uses. Greater New Orleans Inc., southeast Louisiana's economic development nonprofit, also is participating.

By Heekyong Yang and Hyunjoo Jin SEOUL, Jan 22 (Reuters) - Hyundai Motor's labour union in South Korea warned the automaker on Thursday against deploying humanoid robots without union approval, saying the robots would bring "employment shocks".

Humanoid robots will be able to recharge just by stepping on this new inductive charging platform, says Figure CEO Brett Adcock.

XPeng has completed the first unit of its ET1 humanoid robot prototype, marking progress