Fraunhofer IPA: Hardware for humanoid robots – New perspectives for industrial value creation in Europe

The speed at which humanoid robots are currently developing is high. The predicted growth potential is massive and they are poised to overtake or even surpass the automotive industry in terms of market potential. And in the media and at trade fairs, they take center stage as a prime example of “embodied AI”, i.e. the complete integration of artificial intelligence (AI) processes with machine components or entire systems. The focus is particularly on the markets in the USA and Asia, where a lot of progress is being made in terms of software and hardware.

But there is also a lot of activity in Europe. In addition, the manufacturing industry in this region has to cope with structural change. This raises the question: How can the local industry benefit from this booming technology and possibly open up new markets? A team of authors from the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA and the management consultancy P3 investigated this question. In the recently published white paper, they have examined the role played by the hardware of these robots and why manufacturing companies in Europe should take a keen interest in them.

Hardware renaissance: key role in the market

Despite the advances in AI, hardware components largely determine the cost-effectiveness, reliability and scalability of humanoid robots. However, there is currently a lack of standardized hardware architectures. In addition, key components for this type of robot, such as actuators, gears, batteries and sensors, only partially meet industrial requirements in terms of robustness, service life and cost structure.

These gaps in the market, combined with the very good market forecasts mentioned at the beginning, represent a great opportunity. Early entry into the underlying value chain is therefore relevant for companies that have long had extensive expertise in the context of automation, mechatronics and industrial manufacturing.

In order to assess the market potential more accurately, the team of authors analyzed the value chain of humanoid robot hardware for sensors, actuators, structure and energy and created a bottom-up cost model. The cost model was applied to three scenarios and enables a structured comparison of low-cost, medium-cost and high-cost humanoid configurations. It also illustrates how different hardware decisions affect the overall system costs. The analysis highlights hardware components that dominate overall spending and pose the biggest challenges to cost-effective scaling, especially for humanoid systems intended for continuous industrial operation. Flexible hands are currently still the biggest bottleneck.

Fraunhofer IPA contributes extensive market and technology knowledge

Vincent Bezold, Business Segment Manager at Fraunhofer IPA and co-author of the white paper, summarizes the recommendations for action as follows: “In order to be able to tap into this growth market, it is crucial that companies engage in the development and industrialization of cost- and performance-relevant hardware components in a targeted manner. They should also strive for early and close cooperation with manufacturers of humanoids.”

The white paper is part of extensive technological and strategic work on humanoid robots at Fraunhofer IPA. This ranges from the development of in-depth global market knowledge and needs analyses to the development of technology components or entire applications.

In order to provide companies with exactly the knowledge they need for investment decisions, there will be further publications from the institute in the first quarter of 2026: A benchmark enables humanoid robots to be extensively tested and made comparable in terms of six criteria, including energy efficiency, functional and IT security. With the help of a Readiness Navigator, companies can classify both robots themselves and applications into five maturity levels with regard to certain requirements.

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Further links

👉 www.ipa.fraunhofer.de  
👉 Whitepaper “The Humanoid Hardware Value Chain: Can the European Manufacturing Industry Capitalize on the Humanoid Momentum?” 

Photo: Fraunhofer IPA/Photo: Rainer Bez