Humanoid x Schaeffler

UK-based humanoid robotics company, legal entity SKL Robotics Ltd., developing general-purpose industrial mobile manipulators. Founded in 2024 by CEO Artem Sokolov with $50 million in founder-led capital. The company's flagship product is the HMND 01 Alpha, a dual-armed mobile manipulator available in wheeled and bipedal configurations, designed for warehouse, logistics, and manufacturing applications. Humanoid describes the HMND 01 Alpha as the UK's first industrial humanoid robot. The company operates a Robot-as-a-Service (RaaS) business model and signed a binding phased deployment agreement with [Schaeffler group](/companies/schaeffler) in 2026 to roll out a four-digit number of wheeled units across Schaeffler's global production network by 2032. Schaeffler also became a preferred actuator supplier to Humanoid, covering over 50 percent of joint requirements through 2031.

Schaeffler Group is a German motion-technology company and one of the named commercial operators in [Agility robotics](/companies/agility-robotics)' deployment portfolio for the Digit humanoid robot. Headquartered in Herzogenaurach, Germany, Schaeffler manufactures bearings, linear motion components, electric drives, and industrial automation systems, with significant exposure to automotive supply chains. The company has been publicly named alongside GXO, Toyota Motor Manufacturing Canada, and Amazon as a Fortune 500 deploying customer for Agility Robotics' Digit humanoid. Schaeffler's deployment scope is less publicly detailed than the GXO or TMMC operations, but its inclusion in Agility Robotics' enterprise customer roster places Schaeffler among the small set of European industrial operators that have moved from humanoid-pilot to commercial deployment. Schaeffler's significance is as a European industrial-supply-chain operator validating humanoid deployment outside the automotive-OEM lens. While BMW, Toyota, and Hyundai are end-product automotive manufacturers, Schaeffler operates further up the supply chain in motion-technology components. The fact that an industrial-components manufacturer rather than a finished-vehicle assembler is among the named Agility commercial deployers signals that humanoid value is being recognized across the automotive supply chain, not just at the OEM assembly tier. Entity depth note: this is an initial entity build with relatively thin public disclosure compared to GXO, BMW, Amazon, Toyota, and Hyundai. As Schaeffler's humanoid deployment scope becomes more publicly detailed in 2026-2027, the entity should be deepened. Currently the entity earns its place primarily through the named-customer disclosure rather than through documented site-specific operational data.