Humanoids’ Supply Chain Stall: Gartner’s Pilot Trap Prediction

Gartner predicts fewer than 20 companies will deploy humanoids at scale by 2028

From left to right: Unitree’s G1, Boston Dynamics’ Atlas, Figure AI’s Figure 02, Apptronik’s Apollo, and Tesla’s Optimus robot. | Source: Unitree, Boston Dynamics, Figure, Apptronik, and Tesla In recent years, humanoid robots have dominated headlines, and the companies developing them have raised hundreds of millions of dollars to get them working in the real world. Despite these efforts, actual humanoid deployments are few and far between, note…

We won’t see humanoid robots in manufacturing and supply chain soon

Through 2028, fewer than 100 companies will progress humanoid robot proofs of concept beyond experimentation, with no more than 20 companies going live in production for supply chain and manufacturing use cases, according to Gartner. Most production deployments of humanoid robots during this time will remain limited to tightly controlled environments, rather than in dynamic and high-throughput supply chain operations. Humanoid robots – designed …

Humanoids’ Supply Chain Stall: Gartner’s Pilot Trap Prediction

Humanoids’ Supply Chain Stall: Gartner’s Pilot Trap Prediction Humanoid robots, billed as the ultimate fix for labor shortages and rising costs in warehouses and factories, face a stark reality check. Gartner Inc. forecasts that through 2028, fewer than 100 companies will advance beyond initial proofs of concept, with only under 20 scaling to production in supply chain and manufacturing operations, according to a January 21, 2026, press release …