State of humanoid robots in 2026: Forrester

Forrester has published a new report ‘The State of Humanoid Robots, 2026’ which explores where humanoid robots create value today and how firms can capture benefits without overinvesting or increasing risk. 

A technological revolution is quietly reshaping industries worldwide, as humanoid robots move from science fiction to real-world operations. This report reveals that these advanced machines are not just novelty items, but strategic tools poised to dramatically reshape labor, efficiency, and customer interaction across multiple sectors.

Key findings include:

• Humanoid robots are accelerating from concept to commercial reality, with adoption already underway across labor‑intensive sectors. Forrester’s Automation Survey 2025 reveals that 69% of automation decision-makers are adopting or planning to adopt humanoid robots, with early deployments in manufacturing, logistics, healthcare, and customer service. These robots are proving particularly valuable in environments requiring human-like dexterity, interaction, and endurance.

• Deployments today are delivering tangible operational and financial gains. Companies are reporting 40% reductions in processing errors and 20% decreases in labor costs when humanoid robots standardize repetitive, high-friction workflows. Examples include BMW using humanoids for ergonomically challenging assembly tasks and KEENON Robotics reducing restaurant labor costs by 20% through automated food preparation and cleaning.

• Breakthroughs in generative AI, physical AI, and AI-native cloud platforms are rapidly expanding robot capability and lowering development time. Advances such as NVIDIA’s Isaac GR00T-Dreams, which cut model development from three months to 36 hours, highlight how synthetic motion generation and multimodal foundation models are transforming the pace of humanoid robot learning. Physical AI is simultaneously narrowing the sim-to-real gap, improving agility, balance, and reliability across real‑world environments. 

• Early use cases show humanoid robots acting as workforce multipliers, not replacements. Across healthcare, logistics, and retail, humanoid systems are augmenting—not displacing—employees by absorbing repetitive, hazardous, or physically demanding tasks.

Examples range from AgiBot’s A2‑W handling 30% of warehouse material transport with zero errors to Singapore’s Sengkang Community Hospital using Dexie to support multilingual dementia care. These deployments allow human workers to focus on higher‑value and higher‑empathy tasks.

• Despite rapid progress, high R&D costs, deployment complexity, and regulatory uncertainty will continue to slow broad adoption. Humanoid robots still require significant investment in hardware, software, and workflow redesign, while cybersecurity, liability, and safety frameworks remain underdeveloped. As a result, Forrester cautions that the next two years will be defined by targeted pilots rather than widescale deployment, with firms advised to adopt a pragmatic, human‑centric approach.

 Charlie Dai, VP and principal analyst at Forrester, stated: "Humanoid robots are no longer a futuristic fantasy, but a pragmatic tool for operational transformation. Leaders must approach this technology with disciplined experimentation, viewing these robots as workforce multipliers that augment human capabilities rather than wholesale replacements.

"The next two years are critical: those who take a measured, strategic approach will position themselves to unlock significant value as the technology matures, while avoiding the pitfalls of premature or overhyped deployment."