Renault Group, one of Europe’s largest automotive manufacturers, recently invested in Paris-based startup Wandercraft to bring a new class of humanoid robots into its factories.
The French industrial giant made a minority investment in Wandercraft as part of its $75 million Series D funding round. Renault led the Series D funding round. Its exact contribution is unknown. Its exact contribution was not disclosed. Other backers included bpiFrance and the European Investment Bank.
The company plans to use its manufacturing infrastructure to scale production of the startup’s AI-powered exoskeletons. In a press release, Wandercraft founder and CEO Matthieu Masselin called Renault’s investment “a defining moment” for the startup. He said the funding allows Wandercraft to continue its mission of “transforming how people live, move, and work and soon on factory floors.”
“This partnership with Wandercraft is a forward-looking move,” Thierry Charvet, Renault’s chief industry and quality officer, said in a press release. “It will allow us to accelerate on automation and develop robots for our specific auto industrial use, giving us the opportunity to concentrate our people on more value-adding tasks and alleviate operators from painful and non-ergonomics duties.”
Founded in 2012, Wandercraft is mostly known for its self-balancing autonomous walking exoskeletons. Its technology gained significant attention during the Paris 2024 Summer Olympics torch relay. Para-athlete Kevin Piette carried the Olympics torch while walking hands-free using Wandercraft’s Personal Exoskeleton prototype.
Renault and Wandercraft introduced the robot named Calvin-40 with a 30-second video. Engineers developed the headless humanoid robot in just 40 days. In the short video, the bipedal robot walks, waves, and picks up what looks like a heavy box.
Calvin-40 shares foundational tech that’s used in Wandercraft’s exoskeletons like real-time balancing algorithms, motorized joints, and gait planning. Like Wandercraft’s other robotic platforms, Calvin-40 trains in NVIDIA’s Omniverse Isaac Sim and Jetson for onboard AI computing.
Intended to take on dangerous factory jobs, the voice-controlled humanoid can be outfitted with dexterous robotic hands, motorized joints, or suction cups for different applications. The Calvin-40 robot in the video lifts using what looks like suction grippers.
According to Wandercraft, a Calvin-40 prototype performed more than 1 million steps during durability testing. Wandercraft says the humanoid’s medical-grade software ensures reliability and operator safety.
As others have noted, the robot’s camera system is located in its groin area. Without a head, Calvin-40’s sensors and cameras are mounted lower for better visibility of tools, parts, and surfaces. The headless design means the robot can fit better under equipment and between shelves. The robot’s LED strips communicate status to nearby operators.
Founded in 1899, Renault has aggressively embraced automation and robotics across its global operations. The global manufacturer employs well over 100,000 across 33 countries. It produces more than 2 million vehicles from plants in France, Romania, Morocco, Turkey, Spain, Brazil, South Korea, India, Argentina, Slovenia, China, Colombia, and others.