Siemens tests Nvidia humanoid

A humanoid robot from startup Humanoid has been tested inside Siemens’ electronics factory in Erlangen, Germany, doing autonomous logistics work with Nvidia’s robotics software. (press.siemens.com) Siemens and Humanoid announced the pilot on April 16, saying the wheeled HMND 01 Alpha used Nvidia’s “physical AI” stack and Siemens Xcelerator software to move materials on a live factory floor. Siemens tied the test to its broader manufacturing push with Nvidia announced at CES on January 6, 2026. (press.siemens.com 1) (press.siemens.com 2) The job here was factory logistics, not delicate assembly. Siemens said the robot handled tote transport and related material-flow tasks inside a structured plant, where routes, stations and handoffs can be mapped in advance. (engineerlive.com) (therobotreport.com) “Physical AI” is the industry’s term for software that lets machines sense a space, plan a move and act in the real world instead of only inside a screen. In this case, Humanoid said it used Nvidia Jetson Thor for onboard computing, Isaac Sim for virtual testing and Isaac Lab for training control policies before deployment. (engineerlive.com) That setup points to a narrower commercial pitch than the usual humanoid-robot demos. Siemens is presenting the machine as a flexible logistics assistant that can fit into existing industrial software and automation systems, not as a general-purpose replacement for line workers. (press.siemens.com) (automation.com) The location matters because Erlangen is already Siemens’ reference site for its next round of AI-heavy manufacturing. In January, Siemens and Nvidia said that same factory would be the first blueprint for what they called a fully AI-driven, adaptive manufacturing site starting in 2026. (blog.siemens.com) (press.siemens.com) Humanoid said simulation-first design shortened development of the platform to seven months by letting engineers test actuator choices, joint strength and weight distribution virtually before building hardware. That is a familiar robotics strategy: train and debug in software, then move the system onto the plant floor once the behavior is stable enough for a real shift. (engineerlive.com) Other outlets covering the trial said the robot completed an eight-hour shift of tote-handling in Erlangen, though Siemens’ own release did not publish throughput or error-rate figures. That leaves the public case centered on fit with factory software and task scope, not yet on hard productivity numbers. (thenextweb.com) (press.siemens.com) For Siemens, the test is less about proving a robot can look human than about proving one can move parts reliably inside a plant that already runs on Siemens software. The next question is whether pilots like Erlangen turn into repeatable deployments at more factories, with published numbers on uptime, speed and cost. (press.siemens.com 1) (press.siemens.com 2)