Humanoid investments are picking up pace

The AI boom is fueling renewed interest and investment in human-like robots, with around 50 companies around the world raising at least $100 million to develop humanoids, according to McKinsey & Company.

China leads the race with 20 firms, while North America has 15. Chinese firms are driven by strong government incentives and a mandate to have a robot ecosystem by 2025.

The recent Humanoids Summit in Silicon Valley saw over 2,000 engineers and investors, including those from Disney and Google, showcase the technology. Founder Modar Alaoui is optimistic that physical forms of AI are “going to become the norm.”

Examples of entertaining robots are already emerging. BD droids from the Star Wars universe roam Walt Disney World in Florida. A walking Olaf character from Frozen will debut at the Paris and Hong Kong Disneyland next year.

There’s more

Palo Alto-based 1X Technologies unveiled Neo, a humanoid household robot, in October.

Some robots, such as Digit from Agility Robotics, are already entering logistics testing at distribution centers of the South American ecommerce giant Mercado Libre.

However, the timeline for droids becoming productive members of a workplace or household remains a distant goal, with some industry veterans expressing high skepticism.