U.K.-based startup Humanoid unveils HMND 01 Alpha mobile manipulator

Humanoid’s HMND 01 Alpha robot, which features two arms and a wheeled base. | Source: Humanoid

Today, Humanoid announced the launch of HMND 01 Alpha, a dual-armed mobile manipulator for industrial use. The London-based robotics and AI developer said it developed the robot in just seven months.

“Robots shouldn’t replace people; they should support them,” stated Artem Sokolov, founder of Humanoid. “After scaling my family’s manufacturing business, I saw firsthand the toll repetitive work took on employees, including my own grandparents. HMND 01 is built to fill the labor gaps, letting people to focus on more meaningful work.”

In the U.K. alone, manufacturers reported more than 58,000 unfilled vacancies, while across Europe, 26% of manufacturers cited labor shortages as a critical barrier to growth and one of the sector’s biggest challenges. In the U.S., the situation is even more severe, with around 600,000 jobs currently unfilled — a figure projected to rise to 2.1 million by 2030.

“We are targeting a $38 billion industrial TAM [total addressable market], projected to reach $1 trillion by 2050, with a clear path to market leadership in Europe,” he added. “Globally, robot density averages 162 per 10,000 workers, and each additional robot can boost overall productivity by up to 7%, which means more output, fewer errors, and less strain on the team. That’s why we see HMND 01 not just as a machine, but as a step toward a more sustainable and human‑centered future of work.”

Humanoid said it designed HMND 01 Alpha for testing across industrial facilities, gathering insights on which functions are market-ready, which need refinement, and what new capabilities are required. These learnings will help to shape its Beta wheeled robot, scheduled for launch in Q3 2026.

Serial entrepreneur Sokolov founded Humanoid in 2024. The company, also known as SKL Robotics Ltd., said its mission is to develop commercially scalable, safe, and general-purpose humanoid robots. Since its founding, the company has raised $50 million in founder-led capital.

Inside the HMND 01 Alpha

Humanoid said its approach to intelligence, which includes a proprietary combination of 360° simulation training and real-world data flywheels, sets it apart from other developers. So far, the team claims it has seen twice the development speed at half the cost compared to traditional methods.

The robot stands at 220 cm (86.6 in.) tall and can reach speeds up to 7.2 kph (around 4.4 mph). When using both arms, it can carry payloads of up to 15 kg (33.1 lb.), with the ability to lift even more when objects are closer to its body. Its reach spans from the floor up to 2 m (6.6 ft.), with shelf depths of up to 60 cm (23.6 in), allowing it to pick goods directly from the ground or from high storage locations.

Alpha features 29 active degrees of freedom (DoF), excluding end-effectors, and is powered by AI-driven, end-to-end reasoning. Its end-effectors can be fitted with either a 12-DoF five-fingered hand or a 1-DoF parallel gripper, allowing the robot to adapt to tasks requiring either dexterity or simple/heavy handling. The head is equipped with 360-degree RGB cameras and two depth sensors for comprehensive perception.

Humanoid said it plans to start with deployments in warehouses, logistics hubs, and retail facilities. HMND 01 could take on repetitive, physically demanding tasks such as picking and sorting goods, machine feeding, kitting, loading and unloading inventory, and supporting packaging and fulfilment.

Humanoid is backed by $50 million in founder-led capital and and offers its systems through a robotics-as-a-service (RaaS) model.

The rise of mobile manipulation

In recent years, dual-legged, dual-armed humanoid robots have dominated many conversations in robotics. At the same time, however, other developers have focused on maintaining the flexibility of humanoids with a more stable form of locomotion, a wheeled base.

There are a few developers taking a similar route to Humanoid. For example, Kinisi Robotics offers the KR1, a dual-armed robot with a mobile base. The company has so far focused on warehouse and storeroom applications with its robot.

RoboForce earlier this year unveiled its Titan mobile manipulator, which it says works in demanding outdoor environments.

Meanwhile, more established robotics players have released mobile manipulators that look more like traditional warehouse robots. For example, Mobile Industrial Robots (MiR) introduced its MC600 mobile manipulator. That robot combines the MiR600 AMR with the UR20 and UR30 collaborative robot arms from Universal Robots (UR). The MC600 earned MiR and UR parent company Teradyne a 2025 RBR50 Robotics Innovation Award.

Editor’s note: RoboBusiness 2025, which will be on Oct. 15 and 16 in Santa Clara, Calif., will feature session tracks on humanoids, physical AI, enabling technologies, design and development, field robotics, and business. Registration is now open.

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