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Humanoid robots, machines built roughly in the shape of a person, are one of the most hyped technologies of the decade. Videos show them folding laundry, dancing and carrying boxes. But a video is not a job.
This guide separates robots that have done measurable work in a real factory or warehouse from those that are still in testing. We only count figures that a company, or its customer, has published.
Key facts
- 90,000+ parts: loaded by Figure 02 robots at BMW’s Spartanburg plant during an 11-month deployment, according to Figure.
- 100,000+ totes: moved by Agility Robotics’ Digit at a GXO warehouse in Georgia by November 2025.
- Several hundred: Walker S2 robots in UBTech’s first mass delivery batch in China, announced in November 2025.
- Narrow jobs: every verified deployment so far does one or two simple, repetitive tasks, not general work.
Why build a robot shaped like a person?
Most factory robots are fixed arms bolted to the floor. They are fast and precise, but each one needs a station designed around it. A humanoid is meant to fit into spaces built for people: walk between stations, use the same shelves and carry the same boxes. The promise is that a factory would not need to be rebuilt to use one.
The challenge is that walking, balancing and handling odd-shaped objects are hard. That is why the first real jobs are simple ones, such as moving plastic containers, called totes, or placing metal parts into a holder.
The deployments with published numbers
| Robot and company | Where | Job | Published result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Figure 02 (Figure AI) | BMW, Spartanburg, South Carolina | Loading sheet-metal parts into a fixture for welding | 90,000+ parts, 1,250+ hours, helped build 30,000+ BMW X3s |
| Digit (Agility Robotics) | GXO warehouse, Flowery Branch, Georgia | Moving totes from mobile robots to conveyors, stacking totes | 100,000+ totes by November 2025 |
| Walker S2 (UBTech) | Factories and logistics sites in China | Industrial tasks in car plants, logistics and data collection | First batch of several hundred delivered; orders over 800 million yuan |
| Apollo (Apptronik) | Mercedes-Benz plants | Delivering kits of parts to the assembly line | Pilot agreement since March 2024; no output figures published |
| AEON (Hexagon) | BMW, Leipzig, Germany | Battery assembly and component manufacturing | Trials from December 2025, wider pilot planned for mid-2026 |
Figure 02 at BMW
Figure AI says its Figure 02 robot spent 11 months at BMW Group Plant Spartanburg. For the last part of that period it worked 10-hour shifts, Monday to Friday, on a live assembly line. Its job was to take sheet-metal parts out of containers and place them into a fixture, where fixed robots then welded them.
Figure reports more than 90,000 parts loaded and more than 1,250 hours of running time, contributing to over 30,000 BMW X3 cars. In November 2025 Figure began retiring the Figure 02 fleet and replacing it with its newer Figure 03. The company also listed the forearm as the part that failed most often, which is a useful reminder that these machines are still being debugged.
Digit at GXO
Agility Robotics’ Digit has the clearest record in warehouses. GXO, a large logistics company, first tested Digit at a site in Georgia that handles orders for the clothing brand Spanx. On 20 November 2025 Agility said Digit had moved more than 100,000 totes there.
The work is simple but real: lifting totes off small self-driving carts, putting them on conveyors and stacking them elsewhere. GXO pays for Digit under a “robots as a service” deal, a bit like renting a worker by the hour, rather than buying the machines outright.
UBTech Walker S2 in China
In November 2025 the Chinese company UBTech said it had begun mass production and delivery of its Walker S2 robot, starting with a batch of several hundred. It said it had won orders worth more than 800 million yuan, about 112 million US dollars, since early 2025, and plans to reach a production capacity of 5,000 industrial humanoids a year in 2026.
These numbers come from the company and cover several kinds of customer, not only factories. They show real sales, but not yet how much work each robot does.
The pilots to watch
- Apptronik and Mercedes-Benz. The carmaker signed a pilot agreement in March 2024 to test the Apollo robot carrying kits of parts to the line and checking components. Results have not been published.
- BMW Leipzig. BMW is testing the AEON robot from Swiss firm Hexagon in battery assembly, the first humanoid pilot in its European plants.
- Tesla Optimus and Boston Dynamics Atlas. Both companies have shown their robots in factory settings, but we could not find independently checkable output figures for paid factory work.
How to judge the next robot announcement
When you see a new humanoid video or press release, ask these questions:
- Is there a named customer? A real deployment names a company and a site.
- Is it paid work or a pilot? Pilots and trials are useful, but they are not the same as daily production.
- Are there numbers? Hours worked, items handled and success rates are what matter.
- Is the robot working on its own? Some demos use a hidden human operator. Look for words like “autonomous” backed by details.
- How narrow is the job? Doing one task all day is very different from doing anything a person can do.
For background on the software side, read our guides to what artificial intelligence is and how AI is changing work.
Frequently asked questions
Are humanoid robots replacing factory workers yet?
Not at any large scale. The verified deployments involve small numbers of robots doing one simple task, usually work that is tiring or hard to staff.
Which humanoid robot has done the most real work?
Based on published numbers, Agility’s Digit at GXO and Figure 02 at BMW have the clearest records, both reported by the companies themselves.
Why do companies want humanoids instead of normal robots?
Because humanoids can, in theory, work in spaces designed for people without rebuilding the factory. Normal industrial robots are faster but need a dedicated setup.
Browse more in our Robotics section.
Sources
- Figure AI: F.02 contributed to the production of 30,000 cars at BMW (November 2025)
- Agility Robotics: Digit moves over 100,000 totes in commercial deployment (November 2025)
- GXO: pilot of a human-centric robot
- UBTech via PR Newswire: Walker S2 begins mass production and delivery (November 2025)
- Apptronik: Apptronik and Mercedes-Benz enter commercial agreement (March 2024)
- TimesLIVE: BMW pilots humanoid robots at Leipzig production plant (March 2026)
