During his first official visit to the People’s Republic of China, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz made a high-profile stop at Unitree’s humanoid robot factory in Hangzhou.
He got an up-close-and-personal look a the technology that captivated and shocked the world during the 2026 Spring Festival Gala. Though he appeared amused, the chancellor is walking a geopolitical tightrope less than a year into his first term. He’s on a mission to strengthen ties with China while avoiding over-reliance on its industrial prowess.
Deutschland’s manufacturing leaders are accelerating into humanoids far sooner than conventional wisdom predicted. Like Beijing, they view success in the age of intelligent machines as an existential imperative.
German Chancellor’s Unitree Stop
Unitree’s founder and CEO, Wang Xingxing, personally welcome Merz and showcased the decade-old company’s line of humanoid and quadrupedal robots.
Just before the visit, Unitree shared footage of its Kung Fu-fighting humanoids doing a synchronized routine at Beijing’s Temple of Heaven. The choreography is powered by the same fully autonomous cluster control technology that made Unitree’s Spring Gala spectacle possible. For now, it’s mostly for entertainment, but Unitree wants to apply it in places like warehouses and factories.
The system, which is specifically engineered for large performances, can reportedly execute complex actions with a single click. A central computer creates the movement plan for the robots and sends commands wirelessly to each unit with instructions on where and when to move. Each robot uses its onboard sensors to follow the commands and maintain balance. The humanoids follow the same timing so their motion stay in sync while the system checks position data to keep spacing consistent.
Unitree, which leads the world in both biped and quadruped robot deliveries, opened its new factory in Hangzhou last year to keep up with surging demand. The robotics firm aimed to manufacture up to 20,000 humanoids in 2026 as it heads toward an initial public offering (IPO) on Shanghai’s tech-heavy STAR Market.
Cluster Control for Industrial Work
Unitree is aggressively moving to push its cluster tech beyond flashy demos. While it’s been sharing viral clips showcasing the athletic capabilities of its robot, the company is testing its compact and full-sized humanoids with Chinese EV makers like Nio and Geely.
Humanoids working together in a coordinated group could speed up production and lower costs for manufacturers that are struggling to find enough workers. While most factory robots are built to do one job in one place, humanoids could theoretically shift tasks and move where they’re needed.
Unitree’s founder Wang says global mass deployment may be three to five years away, depending on major artificial intelligence breakthroughs that companies are spending billions to achieve.
BMW Pilots AEON
In Germany, BMW has deployed humanoids engineered for around-the-clock labor to help assemble electric vehicles. The luxury automaker says it’s piloting AEON robots from the Swedish industrial automation powerhouse Hexagon AB at its plant in Leipzig.
The facility, opened in 2005, spans 2.3 million square meters and employes about 6,800 workers. It produces around 1,300 vehicles per day or more than 250,000 annually. The plant is known for its flexible manufacturing system that builds gas, hybrid, and fully electric vehicles on the same production lines.
BMW plans to use Hexagon’s flagship humanoids for assembly work, high-voltage battery production, and component manufacturing. Initial testing began in December 2025. The manufacturer is currently piloting at least two of the robots, and a larger pilot is scheduled for later in 2026.
Hexagon built AEON in collaboration with the GPU maker NVIDIA. Standing 165 cm (5 feet 4 inches), AEON boasts a reported 34 degrees of freedom (DoF). It has a hybrid bipedal-wheeled locomotion system. With it, the robot can use its feet to climb steps and its wheels to roll fast across factory floors.
It can swap out its own battery to work 24/7. The hot-swappable battery system, located in its chest, is similar to functionality introduced by UBTECH Robotics and Boston Dynamics for their industrial humanoids.
According to Hexagon, AEON reaches speeds of 2 m/s, which is about twice as fast as the average human walking speed. The 60 kg robot can carry up to 15 kg (33 lbs) for short durations and 8 kg (17 lbs) continuously.
Audi Takes on Fine-Motor Assembly
Another German luxury automaker, Audi, is working with the Swiss startup Mimic Robotics to take on fine-motor assembly work that industrial robots have struggled with for decades.
Zurich-based Mimic is developing robotic hands that boast a reported 21 DoF, which puts it in the upper echelon of dexterous end effectors hitting the market like Singapore’s SharpaWave and China’s Wuji Hand. According to Mimic, the dexterity approaches the capabilities of human hands, which typically have 27 DoF.
Mimic, launched in 2024, just shared footage of its robotic hands precisely installing trim components inside an Audi door frame. The startup says the hands are engineered for tasks requiring fine-finger coordination and complex grasping patterns. They can reportedly handle payloads up to 7 kg (15 lbs) and operate with sub-millimeter precision.
The hands mount onto standard industrial robot arms that are ubiquitous in automotive manufacturing. Mimic’s end effectors are powered by the startup’s proprietary AI that’s heavily trained on human demonstrations.
The company was spun out of ETH Zurich, with early support from Swiss innovation programs like Venture Kick and European Space Agency’s business incubation center. Mimic has raised about $16 million in seed funding to date to scale its system.
Schaeffler’s Humanoids
Another German industrial giant, Schaeffler Group, is aggressively expanding its humanoid robotics program. The manufacturer makes the precision moving parts that help cars, machines, and factory equipment run smoothly and efficiently.
Schaeffler has been one of the most active industrial players piloting and planning large-scale humanoid deployments. Over the past 14 months, the company has forged partnerships with German’s NEURA Robotics, Oregon-based Agility Robotics, the British startup Humanoid, and others.
Under the agreements, Schaeffler plans to deploy hundreds of humanoids in its own production facilities over the next five years. The manufacturer is also taking an active role in building next-gen robots. It’s agreed to supply the London-based robotics firm Humanoid with its advanced actuators and related systems for wheeled and biped robots.
The Future of Humanoids at Work
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