Videos of humanoid robots walking, grasping, and carrying objects regularly go viral. In many factory floors, however, a more pragmatic question arises: Is a humanoid robot worth the investment in a factory that was never built with it in mind? This is precisely where the Deep Dive Forum on Humanoid Robotics comes in, organized by the Deutsche Messe Technology Academy on October 27 and 28, 2026, in Pavilion 36 at the Hannover Exhibition Center.

The goal is clearly defined: feasibility over vision. Over the course of two days, the focus will be on which applications are realistic today, what conditions companies must create, and how to avoid bad investments. The program is aimed at decision-makers in production, automation, and digitalization.

Brownfield as a Litmus Test

The focus is on deployment in existing plants—in short: brownfield. This is where the great promise of humanoid systems lies: they are designed to move through environments made for humans without requiring any changes to layouts, shelves, or workstations. The discussion covers application areas ranging from intralogistics and order picking to assembly support, maintenance, and inspection.

KUKA makes it clear right from the start that having two legs is not an end in itself. Jan Bolte, Branch Manager North, explains when humanoid robotics makes sense and when traditional or mobile robotics remains the better choice. Sebastian Wolf from the DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics assesses what model- and learning-based approaches are currently achieving in brownfield applications. Dr.-Ing. Christian Henke from Fraunhofer IEM addresses cost-effectiveness in a presentation titled “The Price of Anatomy”: How does one decide on a technology whose costs and performance are still constantly changing?

Industry Insights

Reports from the field are particularly interesting. Nikita Aleshin, Global Project Lead for Multi-Purpose Robotics at the BMW Group, describes the automaker’s experiences with humanoid robotics, including challenges and insights. On the second day, Christina Fischer, Project Manager for Humanoid Readiness at Schaeffler, will outline the prerequisites for deployment in existing production environments and how users and providers can jointly drive scaling forward.

In a controversial panel discussion, proponents and skeptics will face off. The key question: Are humanoid robots a game-changer, just hype, or ultimately both?

Join the discussion and try it out for yourself

The forum places a strong emphasis on exchange. Parallel “Deep Dives” will focus on real-world use cases, technology and engineering, integration into the factory, safety and regulation, as well as a comparison of humanoids and mobile cobots. Roundtables will address questions that go beyond the technology: Who will pass on the practical knowledge gained on the shop floor in the future? How much autonomy should a robot be allowed in production? And when does a wait-and-see approach itself become a risk?

On the second day, the motto is “Let’s get hands-on with the robots!” Participants can experience and compare humanoid and mobile systems from companies such as EF Robotics, Terra Robotics, KUKA, and FMC³ Robotics in person. In use-case working sessions, they’ll present their own challenges and work with experts to determine whether humanoid robotics could be the right solution. To wrap things up, industry professionals will demonstrate how they would actually launch such a project, from the initial analysis through to the pilot phase.

The forum provides companies with guidance on whether and how humanoid robotics can be meaningfully integrated into their own production processes—thereby creating a solid foundation for decision-making in industrial practice.

Deep Dive Forum: Humanoid Robotics
October 27 and 28, 2026
Pavilion 36, Hannover Exhibition Center

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