Humanoids or Advanced Robotics?

With the global manufacturing sector facing a declining working-age population and ongoing labor shortages, automation has evolved from a cost-cutting tool into a strategic imperative.

This shift is being fueled by multiple factors: a push to reshore production for greater supply chain resilience, efforts to enhance workplace safety and attract a younger, tech-savvy workforce, and growing pressure to boost productivity, quality, while upholding increasingly demanding sustainability gains.

As these demands grow, so do the technologies that address them. The automation field is broadening — from traditional industrial robots to cutting-edge robotics and emerging humanoids. Navigating this landscape is essential for selecting the right solutions for both current and future manufacturing challenges.

As challenges evolve, so does technology. Fueled by breakthroughs in AI and machine learning, alongside rapid advancements in hardware — from sensors and actuators to batteries and embedded systems — robotic platforms are becoming more capable and adaptable than ever.

It's no surprise that these dramatic developments in AI and advanced robotics are capturing the attention of manufacturing leaders. They recognize in it not only a solution to pressing workforce and productivity challenges, but also a strategic path to scalable, long-term success. But what exactly do we mean when we talk about advanced robotics?

Advanced robots represent the latest evolution in robotic systems, integrating cutting-edge technologies to address increasingly complex challenges across industries.

Today’s advanced robots are defined by three core capabilities:

They support a wide range of tasks in manufacturing and logistics environments, offering faster deployment and requiring less physical space than traditional industrial robots. Advanced robotics encompasses several categories, each optimized for different tasks:

Humanoid robots are emerging as the latest frontier in automation, offering the promise of machines that can move, learn and work like humans. With major investments and market projections soaring — Goldman Sachs forecasts a $38 billion market by 2035 — there's no shortage of enthusiasm.

But beneath the excitement lies a reality check: today's humanoids are still in pilot phases, hindered by short battery life, limited payload capacity, stability issues and immature regulations. While their human-like form is ideal in theory, real-world deployment remains complex and uncertain. For now, their capabilities lag far behind their potential.

What’s more, the eventual deployment of humanoids will be highly determined by environmental considerations. Humanoids may be well suited in the future to unstructured and people-oriented environments but industrial settings such as manufacturing and logistics are a different prospect. Generally, most industrial tasks will be better suited to other forms of advanced robotics.

While humanoid robots capture headlines, the real progress in automation lies in pragmatic, task-focused solutions. For manufacturers and logistics providers facing labor shortages and rising complexity, success doesn’t depend on adopting the flashiest tech—it depends on matching the right tools to the right problems. By leveraging a full spectrum of advanced robotics, from cobots to AMRs, organizations can boost productivity today while laying the groundwork for future innovation. The smartest strategies aren’t built around form—they’re built around function. o learn more about the evolving landscape of robotics explore how function-first robotics can drive real-world results, download the full whitepaper.