Humanoid robots are moving from science fiction toward real-world use, and a crowded field of companies is now competing to lead the way.
According to a Forbes piece by Bernard Marr, 18 companies are racing to build the next generation of humanoid robots, a category he frames as a potential next big thing in AI. The report describes these machines as rapidly transitioning from science fiction to practical applications.
That shift is drawing serious money. Per Forbes, the field is attracting significant investment from both established tech giants and startups, signaling that the technology is being taken seriously well beyond research labs.
Why the sudden interest? Forbes points to a simple but powerful selling point: the appeal of humanoid robots lies in their ability to operate in spaces designed for people. Because the world — from factory floors to homes — is built around the human form, a robot shaped like a person can in principle slot into environments and tasks without requiring everything around it to be redesigned.
The source material does not name each of the 18 companies or detail specific products, timelines, or funding figures, so the headline takeaway is the scale of the competition itself: a wide pack of players, backed by major and emerging investors, all chasing the same goal at once.
Why it matters: if even a fraction of these efforts succeed, humanoid robots could reshape how physical work gets done — making the race to build them one of the most closely watched contests in AI today.