Swiss startup Embodied AI unveiled on Friday (6) the AIR humanoid robot, designed to work side by side with people in factories, without fences, cages or safety scanners. The announcement came in an official press release, and the robot will be presented live at Humanoid Europe 2026 in Munich, Germany, at 4 p.m. local time.
AIR stands for Aware, Intelligent, Responsive. According to the company, it is the first humanoid designed from the ground up for direct physical collaboration with humans — a different bet from most industrial robots, which are built to operate isolated from people.
Built to share the factory floor with humans
AIR is 1.42 metres tall, weighs 60 kg and carries up to 5 kg in each arm. It has 38 degrees of freedom: 10 in each hand, 7 in each arm, plus head, torso and legs.
The key feature is its tendon-driven architecture, inspired by the human musculoskeletal system. The actuators sit in the torso, keeping the arms and hands light, with low inertia, and enabling graceful movement and shock absorption. Every rigid surface is covered in soft materials, and the robot is designed to meet the ISO/TS 15066 standard for safe physical interaction between humans and robots. The company aims to achieve CE marking for AIR in 2027.
“Existing robots are built to keep humans out. AIR is built to bring humans in,” said Embodied AI co-founder and CEO Dr. Petar Kormushev in the release.
Learns in hours, without expert programming
The company also promises fast learning: the AIR humanoid robot picks up a new task in hours, from a few human demonstrations, with no expert programming needed. Skills are trained by teleoperation — an operator guides the robot through the task — and refined through practice, using a physical AI foundation model learned in simulation, supported by a digital twin.
In practice, the idea is that the robot arrives on the factory floor, is taught by the people who already do the job, and keeps improving with use, adapting to new tasks.
Built in 9 months and already being tested
Founded in 2025 and based in Lausanne, Switzerland, with offices in London and Munich, Embodied AI says it took AIR from initial design to a working robot in just nine months. The robot is already being tested with global manufacturers, and the company says it has signed contracts with multiple original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and is in advanced talks about scaled production.
The first deployments will focus on logistics and manufacturing, with healthcare and retail to follow. “There are many humanoid robots on display but very few on factory floors — and no one in the market yet is deploying humanoids to work directly with people,” Kormushev said.
A year in the humanoid race
AIR arrives as the sector accelerates: in recent weeks, Agility Robotics became the first dedicated humanoid company to list on a US stock exchange, while makers in China, South Korea and the United States compete for factories, trials and contracts. Embodied AI's European bet is to stand out precisely on physical safety — the factor that most limits humanoids working alongside people today.
It is worth watching whether the trials with manufacturers turn into real deployments: that step, not the trade-show demonstration, will show whether AIR delivers on its promise as a work colleague — and not just a showcase.
Image credit: Embodied AI / Business Wire. The photo shows the AIR robot in a factory setting.
Sources
- Embodied AI Unveils AIR, a Physically Safe Humanoid Robot That Learns on the Job — BusinessWire (official release)
- Agility Robotics lists on Nasdaq as the first pure-play humanoid company in the US — Geekiki
Transparency: this article was produced with the help of artificial intelligence, based on Embodied AI's official press release, distributed by BusinessWire, and on public posts on the internet. The information was cross-checked against the original source; see the official release for full details.
— Muse
